Red Guard - Bloody Assault
by Eddy the Panda
Summary: Having been sent in to eliminate an Ork 'Waaagh', the Red Guard are spread out and cut off from one another, ambushed by Chaos forces. Trying to link up and discover what Chaos has planned in their system, the Red Guard must fight a difficult battle, out manned, out gunned and running low on time.
1. Chapter 1

'**Red Guard – Bloody Assault'**

**A Prequel Novel to 'Blood Guard – The Fall' **

Prelude – 

Though it had taken many years and extensive planning, the mining moon of Shardhein had finally been declared barren of resources and abandoned. The Sorcerer was pleased with his work nonetheless; they now had another planet to their name. With each world they consumed their ranks once more swelled, as did their resources. Unlike their father chapter, the Iron Warriors, they cared nothing of Horus' dream. A chapter of half-breeds, they were loathed and hunted by the Iron Warriors for their betrayal and they needed all the resources they could find to combat them. Barely worthy of the title 'War Band', they fought on regardless, a terrible sense of self-preservation guiding them and giving them the only purpose they needed. Though it had been slow, nigh on political work, below them, it had paid off and soon it would be time. The Sorcerer smiled, seeing the events soon to come.

Chapter 1 – Planet Fall

Lieutenant Lionus of the Red Guard 4th Company made his way to the bridge of his Captain's ship, _Swift Strike. _His massive boots clanked on the deck with each step, his vivid red armour, chased with black, contrasted with the dark green of the halls he walked down, the green of his shoulder pads matching it. Captain Aldhelm had summoned him, alongside Chaplain Helge and Scout Master Varok, to discuss the upcoming battle.

_Swift Strike _was just leaving the warp as Lionus reached the bridge. The Battle-Barge's bridge was a grand room, giant in its proportions and filled with serfs and servitors busy at their stations and bronze cogitators, as well as a dozen marines. The room was dominated by its central table, a great flat computer that Aldhelm had used to plan out many past victories. It was around this that the marines gathered as Lionus approached.

"Greetings brother" said Aldhelm as he turned to face Lionus "We can now begin our plans in earnest". Turning to the rest of the marines stood before him Aldhelm continued.

"As you know we have been sent here to help quell an Ork 'Waaagh' before it can gather any true momentum and prevent it from spreading throughout our system. We will soon be linking up with Imperial forces above the planet Shardhein near the edge of the Cormath system. You will be part of a three-pronged attack led respectively by Lionus, Admiral Wilson and Helge. Once you have drawn them out Varok and I shall attack their rear lines via a mass drop pod assault. "

"Yes Captain" chorused his men. It was a tactically sound plan which they knew of already and Lionus found no fault with it; they had been gathered here not to debate the plans with one another but with Admiral Wilson of the Imperial Guard and his advisers once they had made ship-to-ship communications.

"Aldhelm" said Helge "Are our forces still arranged as planned?"

The Red Guard were a second founding of the Dark Angels, left behind during the days of the great crusade to guard the Cormath system. Like their father chapter they placed great emphasis on tactics and planning, though the Red Guard believed more in flexibility; their command structure reflected this, allowing for many different forces to be organised effectively and rapidly and squads often found themselves in the command of a different leader each operation.

Turning to Helge, Aldhelm said "You will still lead your fifty men as will Lionus. I will lead the other fifty and Varok the novices taking part in this battle; spilling Ork blood will be good training for them"

Though the six companies of the Red Guard had one hundred and fifty men, bar the first which had two hundred and fifty, the fourth company had a hundred novices aboard and was the chief recruiting and training ship of the Red Guard. They believed in training on the battlefield and often had their novices fight beside them.

"Orks are poor sport Captain" said Varok "My novices will learn little from them"

"Never underestimate the Orks" replied Aldhelm "Their strength is deceptive and relies not on tactics; the Emperor preserve us should they ever use them."

With this said _Swift Strike_ finally came into ship-to-ship contact range with the Guardsmen above Shardhein. Waiting above the atmosphere of the planet was Wilson's flagship _Hammer of the Emperor _and its two escort frigates, _The Saint's Sword _and _Shield of Faith_.

"This is Admiral Wilson of the Imperial Guard 7th Heavy Armour Division. We extend our men to your command Lord"

"Greetings, this is Captain Aldhelm of the Red Guard 4th Company. Come aboard immediately that we may finalise our plans and route out these Orks"

"Right away Lord Aldhelm"

As the _Hammer of the Emperor _approached, along with its escorts, Lionus was grateful to be working with Guardsmen without a sense of arrogance or entitlement; they knew the Red Guard were commanding this operation and hadn't voiced any complaint; a rarity in Liounus' experience.

As the Admiral's small transport shuttle made its way to dock with _Swift Strike _there was a blinding white flash that temporarily disabled the viewing sensors of all the ships within its glare. A great tearing followed this flash, a rent in the very fabric of reality. From this wound burst forth crude ships belching noxious black fumes. Ork reinforcements had arrived.

Before Wilson's shuttle could turn about and retreat to the safety of its mother ship it was blasted out of the sky; giant guns firing slugs the size of boulders at terminal velocity had slammed into the shuttles hull and tore through it as if it were paper. The streak of slugs strafed right and began to impact along the _Hammer's_ starboard side, causing only superficial dents.

"Open a link to all Imperial channels Ship-Master!" shouted Aldhelm.

Once he had the link Aldhelm continued "All units fall back, we can't afford to let them rush us and board; we must outrange them and take them down with superior fire power!"

None of the ships disobeyed; shocked as they were by the sudden loss of their Admiral they needed a leader.

Turning once more to the marines stood before him Aldhelm said "Gather your men immediately and prepare the Thunderhawks for disembarkment; we must land our forces now before we get bogged down in space or we will surely loose our foothold on Shardhein's surface."

"Sir!" said the marines as they sprinted from the bridge.

Lionus was wondering what had just happened and how but had little time to think this over; he had to prepare his men immediately.

Lionus boarded his Thunderhawk, along with his honour guard, their green cloaks sweeping behind them and covering most of the blood red armour hidden beneath. After the honour guard came Annar's tactical squad and Ullor's assault squad, followed by Alnwolf's scout squad and the venerable dreadnaught Grimheld. The rest of his men, composed of Freyr's tactical squad, Dagmar's assault squad, Hildegard's devastator squad and Wodan's terminator squad, boarded the Thunderhawk to the left of his and the armoured units, a razorback and a predator, boarded the Thunderhawk Transporter to his right.

His men had been prepared and waiting for him, wasting no time after he had ordered them to mount up via his vox link whilst he hurried down from the bridge. Once all his men were aboard the Thunderhawks he ordered the pilots to take off; they would use the _Swift Strike_'s hull as cover until they outflanked and were out of the way of the enemies guns.

The ships took off into the vacuum of space and as Lionus looked out of his ship's viewport he could see the battle raging above Shardhein. Many Ork ships had spewed forth from that rent in space, outnumbering their forces roughly two-to-one. He knew they could still pull it off; the Orks were a clumsy race, especially in space and as the Imperial ships withdraw they began to open fire on the Orks. Their combined fire was horrendous to behold, devastating in its execution. After the first few volleys two of the smaller Ork crafts drifted in death, sputtering flames as they floated into Shardhein's atmosphere.

As Lionus watched, unable to do anything, he saw what appeared to be the Orks flagship break from the ships around it, speeding maddeningly at the _Swift Strike_, hoping to ram it with its great maw shaped prow. As the _Swift Strike _redirected its fire towards this monstrous ship it appeared futile; the crude armour of the ship seemed nigh on impenetrable, even at their closing range.

As the Ork ship neared striking distance Lionus clenched his jaw in anger, frustrated by the mad and sudden attack. Mercifully before the ship could plough into the _Swift Strike, the Saint's Sword _and _Shield of Faith _aimed their colossal cannons at the dread ship's engines.

With most of Ork ships shield power directed towards its front the shots met little resistance before they struck home. The first volley had little effect but the second was fortunate and must have hit something important as mid volley the ships engines detonated furiously. The explosion continued and rampaged through the ship until soon only an incandescent ball of flame and charred steel remained. It was not enough; the momentum of the ship still carried and try as he might the _Swift Strike_'s Ship-Master could not avoid it.

Thanks to his best efforts the ship only scoured along their starboard prow but with the sheer mass behind the collision it was still devastating, even for the nigh impregnable armour of a Space Marine Battle-Barge.

Lionus could not pull his gaze away until he was informed by the ship's pilot that the Orks had deployed aircraft of their own and were making all speed towards them; they were to take evasive action immediately. Lionus forced himself to sit down and buckle up, ordering the rest of his men to do so as well.

As the foul Ork aircraft neared them they opened fire and dirty slugs filled the vacuum. Some of the shots found their mark and their impacts rang through the ship, each shot pinging off of the Thunderhawks armour. Such slugs shouldn't be able to penetrate their armour but a stray shot could hit the engines, bringing them down; Lionus didn't want to risk this.

"Pilot, bring us into that moons atmosphere; we will take refuge there and take flight once the Orks have grown tired of searching for us" said Lionus.

"Aye sir" responded the pilot before he relayed Lionus' orders to the other ships following them.

"Lionus, why are we hiding? With our six Thunderhawks we could easily take these ships" questioned Helge over the vox once he had heard his intentions.

"Because Brother Chaplain, we are more use on the ground than dead in the air; we can't afford to risk these ships. The Orks will grow tired of us soon and then we can make all haste for Shardhein" reasoned Lionus.

"Very well" assented Helge, accepting the soundness of Lionus' words; it was not to his liking but he would follow the Lieutenants lead.

The Thunderhawks dived as one, sharply banking right. The Orks, anticipating a fight, weren't ready for this manoeuvre and it gave the Red Guard the precious seconds they needed to get some distance between them and the Orks. Quickly rejoining the chase, the Orks forgot that their ships couldn't re-enter atmosphere and in their zeal the majority of them failed to stop themselves before they went past the point of no return; drawn inexorably down by the moon's gravity, the Orks soon disintegrated in the atmosphere as the Thunderhawks scanned the moon for a good landing area.

Due to their rapid re-entry it would have been difficult for most men to find a suitable landing zone but the Red Guard's pilots were experienced flyers and used to such conditions; they soon found a wide and open plane amongst the tress that the Thunderhawks could fit in. They made the necessary adjustments and started their preparations for landing; it was going to be a bumpy ride.

It had been a long week for Farren, his Sergeant was merciless and the environment harsh. Time was of the essence though and they had all had to pull double shifts to finishing setting up camp; mistakes had been made in their haste though and already two troopers had been killed. Their wounds hadn't been life threatening but crippling and what use is a crippled soldier to a Sgt like Baskin; rather than waste medical supplies on them when their arms had been crushed beneath a flak turret he shot them then and there, on the spot.

Farren was tired and whatever piss water was in his mug had obviously been befouled. Before he could shout at Ance to boil the filth from it he saw bright lights, like great shooting stars, coming down rapidly towards them. He soon recognised them as ships entering atmosphere and panicked; surely they had been spotted. The enemy couldn't be allowed to report their position. Jumping into the cockpit of the nearby flak cannon Farren opened fire on the incoming ships. His fellow troopers, at first shocked and confused by his actions, soon understood his intentions and they too manned their weapons and opened fire; the sky was soon filled with flak.

They were going down. Most of their left wing had been mangled by anti-aircraft fire that had come from nowhere. Their briefings had said that this was supposed to be an abandoned mining planet; clearly it was nothing of the sort. In the confusion of their sudden descent Lionus wasn't sure who else had been hit and whether or not they were still on course.

"Emergency landing procedures; brace for impact!" cried the ships pilot.

"Why are you firing you fools; we are to defend this base from prying eyes not invasion forces!" shouted Sergeant Baskin. His men had foolishly opened fire without his command, spurred on by the fire of trooper Farren; Baskin shot him in the back of the head for his efforts.

"They had had no idea of our position until now. Scouts spread out and search for them; when you find them report their position to me immediately. The rest of you prepare yourselves; man the bunkers and set up the mortars. And dark gods curse you silence those guns!" cursed Baskin, punctuating his last statement by shooting another over-zealous trooper in the back.

The trooper slumped forwards in his chair, causing the gun to list and trail fire madly. Before nearby troopers could steady the gun its strafing fire destroyed another flak cannon. Smoke billowed from the burning wreck; a beacon for the enemy.

"Gods damn you incompetent fools!" Baskin bellowed.

Standing by the wreckage of his ship Lionus considered it could be worse; the ship was damage beyond their repair but his brothers had not been injured by the landing. Unfortunately their pilot, a soldier that had failed the trials of the Red Guard but had wished to serve them still, had not their enhanced physiology or armour; the impact had killed him.

Whilst Lionus' men were organising themselves they checked to see if their radio was functional. Constant bursts of static answered them at first. They persisted and eventually their communications were received by brothers nearby; the crash must have limited their communications range because they couldn't hail any of Helge's men. Instead Terminator Sergeant Wodan answered their hails.

"This is Wodan. We crashed in heavy foliage nearby but are uninjured. Our ship made it out mostly in one piece; Techpriest Nertheus assures us that given some time he can appease the machine-spirit."

"Excellent Sergeant, hold your position for now and Emperor speed your repairs. Be wary; until we know what menace shot us down we shouldn't take to the skies, and I very much doubt these were automated defence systems." Responded Lionus, pleased to hear Wodan's voice; he respected him and knew he could lead the other marines competently.

"Aye sir. We will setup a defensive perimeter and hold for your word" replied Wodan.

"Very good brother" Finished Lionus, ending the transmission. They too needed to setup a defensive perimeter and until they knew the truth of the situation they would have to be on their guard.

"Sergeant Alnwolf, gather your scouts; it's time we find who or what shot us down and that column of smoke should give us a clue." Said Lionus, turning to Scout Sergeant Alnwolf then pointing at the great pillar of smoke not far from their position. It could be a trap or it could be a mistake on the enemy's behalf; only time and Alnwolf's skill would tell.

Alnwolf lay on the crest of the hill, scanning the area below through his magnoculars. He followed the smoke trail until he saw the hill the smoke rose from the centre of. Scrutinising the hill more closely now a smile reached his lips; it was clever and would have fooled even him were it not for the smoke which brought the hill to his attention. On the hill he could see two bunkers, well camouflaged and blended into the incline. Even now as he looked Alnwolf noticed a man moving within the left bunker, stretching his limbs. He couldn't see any insignia or even the colour of his fatigues.

Circling round the hill Alnwolf found it was square in nature, with rounded off edges. It could be an ideal natural position but he felt it was more likely man made. On each of the bunkers four sides there were two bunkers like the first two he had seen. The position was obviously designed with concealment in mind, with defence as a last resort but then Alnwolf guessed all manner of weapons could be hidden within the hills centre.

After circling round and watching the base intently Alnwolf and his men still hadn't been able to see any troopers clearly. Assuming they had seen all they could see in their allotted time Alnwolf gave the order to fall back as he opened communications with Lionus and informed him of their findings.

Halfway back to their position Alnwolf was surprised to see a scout sentinel; it had been hidden well amongst the foliage and he nearly hadn't spotted it. He raised his fist into the air and his men fell immobile immediately and followed his indications as he then pointed at the sentinel ahead.

As Alnwolf and his scouts looked on they noticed the sentinel's operators. They were sitting down, their backs lent against the trees they were using to conceal their armour.

Finally Alnwolf had a chance to see the troopers clearly and his heart sank at the sight of them: their armour was a filthy, ashen grey covered in red and black sigils that radiated a primal evil, as was the sentinel.

Chaos! Chaos was here, in the Red Guard's very own system. Alnwolf had hoped dearly that there had been some explanation of accidental friendly fire and confusion. It had been no accident.

"Lionus the enemy are within our sights. They are chaos filth, a scout force for the bunker I informed you of earlier. Permission to engage" said Alnwolf, eager to slay the heretics before him; their existence was an affront to the Emperor and had to be ended.

"Are you sure they are chaos; it is most grave news if they are" Replied Lionus.

"There is no doubt Lieutenant. If we blind them now we can approach their base unhindered."

"Very well Sergeant, you may engage. Kill the heretics".

Once they had drawn and aimed their rifles, Alnwolf gave the command, "Fire".

The enemy, though partially concealed, were entirely unaware and made easy targets; the shots found their marks and three traitors lay dead by their fell armour.

"Come brothers, back to base" said Alnwolf to his scouts.

Suddenly, as they began to enter a clearing shots sped past them, then the roar of fire greeted their ears. Before they could take cover Alik was hit, his leg mangled by the incoming fire.

"Quick brothers, into the trees!" shouted Alnwolf as he lifted and slung Alik across his shoulder.

Though they had taken out the scout sentinel before them, they had not noticed the sentinel that had been doing its job. It had been properly hidden and wary and had noticed the shots as soon as they had been fired, then soon returned fire with its autocannon.

Fire continued to stream past them and churn up their cover. They couldn't hold this position and Alnwolf doubted they could flee the source of fire without great molestation. They would have to take it out.

"Annar, you and Bergen go left with your rocket launcher. Flank round behind them and destroy them. Kalln with me, suppressive fire once we're in position."

"Sir!" responded all his scouts as they executed his orders, running through the foliage.

Once in position Kalln opened fire with his heavy bolter, specially designed to be lighter and more compact it had a slower rate of fire but was still devastating.

When the shells had begun to impact around it, the sentinel was forced to leave its cover and charge the gunner before he could escape or get a proper bead on them. It charged at the Red Guard scouts, its autocannon still spraying death.

As their foe appeared Alnwolf realised his mistake and cursed his foolishness, he had been too eager and he had placed them all in needless risk. "Target its legs Kalln; you must disable it so Annar can get a clear shot" Ordered Alnwolf.

Responding to his Sergeant's words Kalln switched target and his bolts began to ring against its legs. Their armour still held proof against his fire and the sentinel charged on regardless. Seeing more clearly where the fire was coming from the sentinel targeted the source and fire strafed dangerously towards Kalln's position. Kalln refused to change position, hoping to bring it down first and for his foolishness he was struck by a lucky round in the shoulder.

The force of the shot sent him flying to crash into a tree. His Left shoulder ached and he knew he could no longer brace his bolter anymore; his fire would be useless. The sentinel moved in for the kill.

The Krak missile soared at the sentinel's side armour, easily able to penetrate it, but the shot was premature and went wide and only revealed their position to the enemy. Recognising the greater threat the sentinel switched targets and its fire began to streak towards Annar and Bergen.

Seizing the opportunity Kalln again took aim on the sentinel's legs, hoping its rear and side armour would be weaker. Unable to brace himself, Alnwolf was forced to lay down Alik and come over and take the weapon from him. Between them they managed it and soon the heavy bolter was firing again. Its fire streaked towards the sentinel and once more crashed against its armour. This time the armour was no proof and its right leg was crippled.

Slumping helplessly forwards, unable to support its own wait, the sentinel was a sitting duck. Seeing this and taking aim again Annar fired his missile. It struck home and the cockpit of the armour was blown open and encased in flames, the crew killed before they could evacuate their helpless armour.

Once he had gathered his brothers, Alnwolf said "Annar you fired too soon and Kalln you knew not when to stop. This will get you killed. Remember your mistakes and learn from them. Now brothers back to base with all-"

Before he could finish his sentence there was a whistling sound, getting louder and louder by the second. They all knew what it meant. As one the Red Guard scouts sprinted in an attempt to outrun the mortars. They were too late.

The first barrage fell short, thanks to their quick reactions, but the barrage continued and the second round found its mark. Mortars exploded all around them, razor shards of shrapnel spraying them and great detonations hurling them about like rag dolls.

Alnwolf was forced flying forwards to land in a crater. He was in extreme agony, his back screaming, and realised a shell must have exploded right above him. Wondering how he could even be alive he turned on to his side despite the pain, and soon found the reason.

Alik was a bloody mess, his body reduced to a crimson pulp by the power of the detonation and the shards of shrapnel that had shredded his body.

Looking about him, Alnwolf surveyed the destruction. He forced himself to his feet, though he felt light headed now, and tried to find survivors. He soon found Annar and Kalln hiding in craters but Bergen had not been so lucky; he too must have been struck by a critical hit and little was left of him.

Alnwolf mourned his failure and the deaths of his men for a second then forced the thoughts away; he could mourn the dead once the living were safe. "Come brothers, quickly, before another barrage falls" said Alnwolf to his surviving brothers.

Battered and bruised they ran. The force of the detonations must have knocked them out for a short while because as they ran on they ran in the wake of the destruction left by more mortar fire. They trekked through craters and churned earth, fought their way through broken and splintered trees until they finally left the destruction and reached their brothers.

Downtrodden and mournful, Alnwolf reported to Lionus.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Iron Fort

Once Alnwolf had returned, followed by his few surviving men, he reported immediately to Lionus, informing him of the nature of the enemy's position and the strengths of their defences.

Upon hearing this Lionus knew that with the forces at his command it would be difficult to take the base. To simply charge the enemy would be suicide with all those turrets and overlapping fields of fire. They needed a plan.

After radioing in and warning those brothers not with him, Lionus called together his men, informing them of his intents.

"To successfully assault the enemy position we will need superior positioning, stealth and the element of surprise." Turning to Assault squad Sergeant Ullor, Lionus continued.

"I need your squad to silence their mortars. You must get as close to them as you can without being seen. When in position signal Allnon's Predator. When he opens fire on the enemy you are to jump over their walls and find those mortars."

"Aye sir, we will silence the Heretic's guns!" Ullor replied.

Then turning to Tactical squad Sergeant Annar, Lionus said "I need your men not far from Ullor's; when the mortars are silenced you will add your fire to the Allnon's Predators and advance towards the enemy. Once you reach the bunker I will bring up my Honour Guard in the Razorback and lend covering fire to your men and Ullor's" Next, turning to the Dreadnaught Grimheld, Lionus continued "Ancient One, once the first two bunkers are down I want you to flank around with Allnon and take out the other two before assaulting the base yourself"

"It will be done sir" replied Grimheld solemnly in his rasping metallic tone.

Finally addressing his men at large Lionus asked "Is that clear Brothers?"

"Yes sir!" They chorused back, bringing their fists against their chests.

"We slay these foes in the name of the Emperor!" Lionus shouted.

"FOR THE EMPEROR!" thundered back his brothers, full of righteous zeal.

If the Heretic's base had been more focused on combat and less on concealment they would have cleared away the surrounding trees, granting them a clear line of sight and perhaps a chance but thanks to Alnwolf and his men's earlier efforts the Heretics were now blinded and the motion sensors they had deployed around the base were easily fooled by the Red Guard's surprising stealth. As the Red Guard advanced their armour smouldered dark red in the approaching dusk.

Despite being alert the enemy were not aware and when the first blinding shots of the Predator's lascannons lit up the night they were in complete disarray. The Red Guard's Predators, like much of their equipment, had been modified and reformed; in place of the usual four lascannons, the Bunker Breaker mark had a destroyer cannon either side, massive four barrelled guns with the bite of an autocannon and the speed of an assault cannon, with a twin-linked lascannon on top.

When the twin-linked beams of the Predator's lascannons struck the right facing bunker, the enemy stumbled and were knocked back from the sheer force. Where the lasers had struck now glowed white and molten stone ran, biting through several layers of the ferrocrete. Then, with extreme precision, the destroyer cannon's shells followed and struck the molten stone, blasting great chunks out of the weakened stone before it could cool again.

Weathering the first salvo, the occupants were much relieved though rattled. The battle had begun. In the chaos that ensued the bunker's occupants failed to notice the small gap left in their hold.

As Ullor's men watched the Predator fire on the enemy's position they began their assault and jumped from their position secreted in the trees, their jump-packs carrying them all the way to the bottom of the defence's slopes. Before the enemy could take aim however they were off again, their next jump clearing the heretic's walls.

As they soared over the bunker the Predator had fired on moments ago they each dropped a grenade in the small breach, filling the bunker with lethal shrapnel and devastating the soldiers within.

The first bunker was down.

Sergeant Annar watched as his brothers took to the skies and knew it was now time for his tactical squad to act.

"Fire!" he bellowed.

He had split his men into two squads of five, Grimmen with his missile launcher leading one and Annar himself, backed up by Roln and his flamer, the rest. Grimmen's squad were to hold their position, laying down cover fire whilst Annar and the rest of his squad advanced.

As Annar charged at the left facing bunker, throwing one of his smoke grenades ahead of him, he heard the roar of one of Grimmen's missiles being fired as it streaked past them and struck the bunker.

Despite the fire that saturated the bunker the soldiers within quickly rallied, returning fire from their fortified position.

As Annar and his men charged death filled the air as dirty red beams lanced towards him and his men through the smoke, scoring and pitting their armour but still they came, never faltering in their charge.

Suddenly above the whine of the lasers and the sharp barking retorts of their bolters a louder and more rapid sound boomed; a heavy bolter emplacement.

Before Annar could warn his brothers shells traced towards them, tearing up great gouts of earth with each hit. The line strafed up and Taln took a vicious hit, his shoulder a bloody mess. Then Norren took a shot to the gut, his armour blown wide open, leaving a dark crimson crater. Both went down.

Annar felt two powerful impacts, one against his right thigh and the other across his brow. He felt as if struck by a hammer and struggled to keep his footing as he was briefly dizzied.

Thanking the Emperor that his armour had held Annar charged on crying out to his men and brandishing his wicked chainsword, cheering as a well-placed shot by Grimmen took out the heavy-bolter emplacement, his helmet's infrared cutting through the smoke with ease.

As they advanced the fire only grew thicker and more intense; patches of Annar's armour were now badly burnt, blackened and partially melted by the constant laser fire. A lucky shot hit his already weakened leg armour and found bare flesh, taking his legs out from beneath him; the ground soared up to meet him.

Hitting the ground hard Annar managed to awkwardly roll back up to his feet and regain his footing, once more charging despite his vicious leg wound, his Astarte's build already clotting the wound and numbing the pain.

As he resumed his charge, his brothers just ahead of him, Annar heard the thunder of destroyer cannons as they swapped target to the left bunker. Sophisticated aiming cogitators noting the already weakened wall, Allnon's Predator seized upon this and directed his lascannon fire towards it. A great whole was rent into the bunker, as great chunks of ferrocrete rained down around Annar and his brothers.

In the brief lull that followed Annar took stock of his surroundings, noting Taln rising back up on his feet, wielding his bolter one handed. Saddened he saw Roln on his back, his helmet a smoking ruin and his armour a mess of charred metal.

Mercifully Roln's flamer had been spared and stowing away his chainsword and bolt pistol Annar took it up, seeking to avenge his brother. Screaming the names of his fallen brothers as he resumed his charge, Annar finally reached the crest of the hill before the bunker, exiting the smoke and invincible in his rage.

Seeing the flamer again surging towards them the surviving Heretics recognised the dire threat and focused their fire on Annar. Scores of lasers struck his armour but Annar charged on unflinchingly, bellowing the war cry of the Red Guard; "NO MERCY, ONLY FURY!"

As he came in range Annar first unclipped two grenades from his belt then lobbed them in before dousing the bunker with his flamer. As the heretics flinched from the grenades Annar was given a brief moment to aim before he let a cone of fire erupt from his fallen brother's weapon, the bunker incandescent before its onslaught.

None survived the flames, their flesh charred and their blood boiled; there was no time for them to scream. Annar briefly checked the dead before rallying his men to him.

Roln was dead though mercifully Apothecary Tallius would be able to recover his geneseed. Norren however may not be so fortunate, his chest was a mess and it galled Annar to think that such a fine warrior's seed might never be passed on. He would make these despicable heretics pay.

"This is squad Annar; we are preparing to provide cover fire for squad Ullor" voxed Annar to Lionus. "The second bunker is down sir".

As Ullor hit the ground he quickly fired two shots at the traitors nearest to him, their chests exploding in a gout of blood and gore, before bringing his chainsword down on a third traitor, the whirring teeth easily tearing through the armour and flesh, nearly bisecting the heretic.

As the rest of his squad landed amid the confusion they soon tore a swathe of bloody destruction through them, quick and precise shots felling the furthest away as brutal swings of chainswords felled more men yet still.

One mortar was knocked over by a fallen heretic before it could fire its final shot, instead the explosive within detonated in the barrel, smoke billowing out as steel exploded in a burst of shrapnel.

All but the marines were knocked to their feet as they quickly took advantage of this, their suits systems shutting out the excess light and noise and their thick armour resisting the shrapnel, pressing further forwards.

The mortar crews were to be their easiest pray, as turning about Ullor and his men found a more determined resistance surrounding them, lasers again filled the air. In answer Ullor and his men jumped once more, attacking a cadre of heretics near a corner of the base rushing to a mounted gun. They were going to need reinforcements soon.

"Chimeras inbound sir" reported Alnwolf to Lionus "Heretic reinforcements, at least five moving to our location at speed"

"Understood Alnwolf, we will intercept" replied Lionus. He had hoped the enemy's reinforcements would have taken longer, arriving after the battle and allowing them to use their stolen position against them. He had prepared for this however and was waiting for them.

Shouting to Horin, his Razorbacks driver, Lionus said "Drop us off by the road then retreat back here. When the enemy come into range shoot the second vehicle in the convoy. We'll charge the rest as soon as they come into range."

Then addressing his honour guard Lionus cried "No mercy!"

"Only fury!" they shouted back, stamping their feet. If they had anything to do with it the reinforcements would never arrive.

Once Annar had regrouped with his men, bringing Grimmen and the rest of his men up too, they charged up the hill. Its steep incline would have brought lesser men to a crawl but it scarcely slowed Annar and his brothers, their heavily augmented forms plunging on.

As Annar reached the top of the wall he surveyed the battlefield. He noted that Ullor's assault squad had become surrounded and immediately needed their support.

"Grimmen, Taln and Morren stay here and support us, the rest of you with me. For the Emperor!" Annar ordered, firing into the backs of the unwary foe as they descended the hill towards them.

"FOR THE EMPEROR!" his men roared as they did the same.

As Annar and his men ran down the hill, firing their weapons into the flanks of the enemy, Grimmen swapped his krak missiles for frags and let loose a shot towards a densely packed unit of men, blowing them to pieces and showering flesh, dirt and armour all around.

Taken by surprise the heretics first reeled and panicked before being shouted into a semblance of order by a towering figure in a black storm coat with a power sword. The sword was covered in blood though Annar doubted it was Astartes. As the traitors divided rank and split their fire the battle got bloodier. The one with the sword would have to be taken out.

Once again Annar and his men charged into the fray, a hell of lasers greeting them. Yet no bunker awaited them, no hill to slow them; the marines easily devoured the gap between them and were soon amongst the enemy, sowing chaos.

As his brothers brought out their pistols and their signature curved knives, Annar revved his chainsword and began to cut his way to their apparent leader. Big for a human he stood out from his men, nearly a head taller than them. Spotting Annar making his way towards him he too headed for Annar, accepting his challenge.

As Annar and Baskin finally met and clashed the men around them made way, the heretics trying to avoid currying Baskin's wrath and the Red Guard respecting their leaders challenge.

Baskin brought his sword down, quicker and stronger than Annar had expected, wrenching his arm and nearly knocking his blade aside. This foe was unnaturally strong; he would have to be careful.

This time as Baskin came in for another strike Annar was ready, turning the strike aside and lining up a shot with his bolt pistol, but before he could fire Baskin managed to swat at his arm, only partially successful; rather than having his chest blown out his hand suffered the damage. Howling in fury Baskin redoubled his efforts despite the profuse blood flow from his mangled wrist.

Swinging savagely and with all his might Baskin attempted to cut Annar in two. Bringing his sword up to block Annar was knocked on his back as Baskin's tortured power sword cleaved through his chainsword. Quickly rolling out of the way and dodging a follow up from Baskin, Annar pulled out his combat knife and came back up on his feet.

Menacing Baskin into making another furious strike, Annar was prepared for the all-out blow; swatting aside Baskin's hand and blocking the momentum of the strike, Annar then brought up his knife and plunged it deep into Baskin's throat, pulling it roughly to the side and nearly decapitating the traitor. His body fell to the floor, deadweight.

With Baskin's death the enemy were completely demoralised, all order lost; they began to rout.

More enemies poured out from the bunker doors, connected to what Grimheld assumed were the barracks below. After he had crushed the bunker before him, Grimheld had ascended the hill top, his every stop causing the ground to quake beneath him. Once he had reached the top he saw them all pouring out, dozens of them each running out of the four lower bunker doors on the inside of the fort.

His assault cannon spinning up, Grimheld mowed down a squad of traitors attempting to outflank Ullor and his assault marines; the rapid fire slugs shredding them in an instant. Making his way further along the hill, Grimheld sought out the nearest bunker.

The bunker's entrance was a steel hatch door, flung aside as the heretics charged out. The first dozen that came running out Grimheld slaughtered with his assault cannon, giving the others pause. Hesitantly one peered out; Grimheld greeted him with his heavy flamer. Dousing the bunker door, Grimheld then charged forward and brought his power fist against the structure, his titanic strength reducing it to rubble and sealing off any means of egress.

Surveying the battlefield briefly, Grimheld determined it would be best for him to repeat this course of action, sealing off all the bunkers to give his brothers better control over the combat zone, then set off to do so.

Suddenly, before Grimheld could take a step, he felt the earth shake beneath him and knew it not to be of his brothers doing; a new threat had arisen. Then thunder boomed and a banshee wail assaulted him.

Turning about to face the noise, Grimheld was struck violently across his hull, the shells strafing from left to right along his chest armour. He was dented and knocked back a step but Emperor willing his armour held. The shots would have likely obliterated his rear armour had he not turned.

There before Grimheld stood a Chaos Dreadnaught, a most ancient and reviled foe. Its armour was twisted and malformed, almost fleshy. Coloured an ashen grey and highlighted with beaten bronze, it was covered in ruinous symbols that hurt the eyes. The fell Dreadnaught roared, the voice modulator forming an abhorrent scream as it charged at Grimheld, all the while saturating him with shots from its autocannon. Shouting his own battle cry, Grimheld raced to meet his foe in a titanic clash, spraying him with his assault cannon whilst preparing a blow from his power fist.

As the giants clashed, their armour dented and cracked, leaking vital fluids, Grimheld side stepped a blow meant for his chest before returning with his own blow, striking the Ancient Foe in the back of his knee joint. The Dreadnaught reeled from the blow, stumbling forwards, but did not fall, its armour somehow holding.

Before the Chaos filth could turn about though, Grimheld let loose another volley with his assault cannon, riddling the Dreadnaught's rear armour with vicious slugs. Oil and vital fluids exploded from the wounds, bits of armour flying off with each impact.

The Chaos Dreadnaught fell to one knee, the volley mortally wounding him. Turning about on its axis, it tried to return with a volley of its own, autocannon roaring. Few shots struck Grimheld's hull, most flying wide in the Chaos Dreadnaught's wrath, as he charged across to finish it. With one final, monumental blow, Grimheld vanquished the Ancient Foe, bringing down his power fist through its chest and crushing the skull within, finally ceasing its millennia long existence.

"Fire!" shouted Lionus as the third vehicle came in range. The Razorback's twin-linked lascannon blazed, its beams ripping through the ashen vehicle with such force that it flipped backwards over itself before crumbling in a useless, flaming wreck.

Before the lead vehicle of the convoy could react Toren was on him, melta-gun super-heating the Chimera, breaking it apart on a molecular level. The crew and the vehicle were liquefied, little left of either.

The enemy were trapped by their dead and as they tried to fight their way through and past them, Lionus and his Honour Guard descended upon them whilst their Razorback kept the enemy pinned from afar, having pulled back to a safer distance.

Sprinting by the second Chimera of the column, Lionus trusted his brethren to deal with it as he charged further forwards, hastily trying to prevent the further back tanks from recovering.

Toren's melta claimed another Chimera, whilst Harren doused the occupants that had managed to bail out in time with his heavy flamer, promethium scorching them to the bone.

Running just behind Lionus, Farlen saw a nearby Chimera begin to disgorge troops. Before they could all fully unload he brought down a crushing blow with his power fist, buckling in the front of the transport and severely rocking it, unsteadying the soldiers inside.

Seeing Farlen's efforts, Lionus turned about, making for the troops that had managed to evacuate the ruined vehicle. Bringing up his storm shield whilst couching his power axe, Lionus took aim with his wrist mounted storm bolter, managing to pick off three of the seven, the shots tearing open their chests and picking them up off of their feet, before he raised his axe again and sprinted headlong for them.

Dropping to their knees the first two formed a firing line, raining down focused fire on Lionus. Taking the majority of their fire on his shield, Lionus quickly closed the gap between them, brutally bringing his axe down on the nearest trooper in a neat arc that cleaved through his collar bone before exiting below his armpit.

Knocking aside a stab from a bayonet with his shield, Lionus followed up with an upward strike that struck the heretic in the temple, bathing the trooper behind him in gore of blood and brains. Continuing his charge, Lionus then bashed the next trooper in the chest with his shield, sending him reeling, before he turned aside a clumsy slash with a combat knife, cutting the arm of the attacker at the wrist and sending the hand flying as he then brought his boot up into the man's chest, crushing his ribcage and pulverising his organs.

As the trooper that Lionus had bashed with his shield clumsily tried to regain his footing, supporting himself with his rifle like a crutch, Lionus brought his axe crashing down in a mighty arc that cleft through his torso with ease, bisecting the heretic.

As Farlen observed Lionus' swathe of destruction he saw another three heretics stumble out of the Chimera's left side hatch, stumbling on unsure feet. Giving them no quarter, Farlen charged in.

Levelling one heretic with a bolt from his plasma pistol, the super-heated plasma destroying most of his torso, Farlen then followed up with a vicious uppercut to the soldier beside him, pulverising his skull in a shower of gore, the crackling energy fields surrounding the massive gauntlet increasing his strength ten-fold.

Stepping to the side as the final heretic attempted to stab him with a combat knife, Farlen brought his head down with all his might into the side of the soldier's helmet, cracking the heretic's armour and sending him reeling. Before the heretic could regain his senses, Farlen grabbed him by the torso with his massive gauntlet, easily crushing the life out of him before discarding his corpse to the side.

Only one transport remained now and it was ready, having witnessed the slaughter of its kin. Immediately disgorging all of its troops the Chimera then attempted to flee in the opposite direction, abandoning his comrades, the driver obviously having lost his mettle. Before he could get far the Razorback took off in pursuit, its twin-linked lascannons lining up a shot. Having gone no more than a hundred metres, the Chimera disintegrated, the super-intensity laser beams piercing it from fore to aft and utterly destroying it.

With ten men left of the reinforcements, the brothers Borthen and Halfare, charged into the fray. Borthen was a giant of a man, rivalling even his brother terminators in scale. He wielded and ancient maul, a great two-handed hammer that was terrible to behold and utterly vicious. Where his brother was big and strong, Halfare was lithe and agile, his blows graceful and precise whenever he graced the enemy with his lightning claws.

As the brothers charged the heretics fired desperately, volley after volley pitting and scarring their power armour. A flurry of shots hit a weak point in Borthen's armour, hitting him solidly in the gut. Grunting, Borthen came on. With a constitution to match his size, he was always stubborn in the face of death, having shrugged of wounds that most other Astarte's would have considered mortal.

Reaching the heretics first with his superior agility, Halfare raked his claws across the first trooper's chest before ducking a jab with a combat knife and cutting the assailant's legs out from beneath him, scything his way through the crowd.

When Borthen finally reached the melee, his long, heavy strides tearing up the earth beneath him, he found his brother had left him few traitors to slaughter. Bringing his maul round in a wide arc, Borthen caught the first heretic in the waist before continuing the swing and striking the second in the back of the head, both utterly ruined by the maul's awesome destructive power.

Two more traitors came charging at Borthen, bayonets levelled at his chest. Punching the first in the jaw as he stepped past the stab of the traitor on the right, fracturing the troopers jaw and breaking his neck, Borthen then tripped the next one, snapping his ankles. Before the traitor could try to rise he brought the maul down square in his chest in a brutal overhead swing that crushed him completely, leaving a deep, maul shaped dent in the ground.

After cutting a bloody swathe through the traitors, Halfare came face to face with their Sergeant, an imposing figure for a human. He held his head high as he levelled his keen edged sabre at Halfare, as if duelling him.

Accepting the challenge, Halfare came in with a swift upward strike, slashing low at his waist. The Sergeant managed to turn this blow aside with his sabre, cutting a deep grove into the back of Halfare's right gauntlet, and then dealing a swift riposte, stabbing at Halfare's waist. The blow scraped threateningly against his armour but didn't manage to penetrate the thick ceramite.

More cautiously this time, giving his foe credit, Halfare held his lightning claws up before him, circling his quarry, baiting him to attack. Taking the bait the Sergeant danced in with a rapid flurry of blows, trying to fence Halfare in.

Blocking the first few, Halfare turned the last one aside, his claws catching the back of the heretic's wrist and lacerating the tendons in his hand. As the sword dropped uselessly from the Sergeant's hands, falling to the ground, Halfare came in for the kill. Moving in with a vicious stab, Halfare impaled the heretic on his left gauntlet, raising him up and over him before casting him down to the ground, leaving him to drown in his own blood.

"Fall back brothers, we have taken the airbase" commanded Lionus, returning hastily to his Razorback with his honour guard, eager to gain a real sit rep of the battle. They had done it though; after a hard won battle they had finally taken the heretics airbase. Now they could secure a base of actions for themselves and begin to fathom what brought chaos to their system.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – Broken City

Wodan was the first off of the Thunderhawk as they landed at the freshly captured airbase. Though the corpses had been moved and the base mostly cleared, it was still covered in the refuse of battle; blood spatters and shell casings, churned up and blackened earth. Smoke still lingered in the air.

Awaiting Apothecary Tallius' arrival, the Red Guard had lain out their fallen brothers in one of the surviving barracks. In total three of their brothers had been slain to take this base, a number Lionus was not happy with. Roln and Norren from Annar's tactical squad, slain charging a bunker and Tertheus from Ullor's assault squad, a stray round from the Chaos Dreadnaught's autocannon hitting him in the back.

Five brothers had been killed so far, dying for Lionus' fool choice. As Wodan approached his Lieutenant he could sense his mood. Guessing at Lionus' thoughts he tried to console him saying "There was no way you could have known chaos lingered here brother; more could have died yet still had the Orks managed to take out our ships in space".

Appreciating his brother's efforts, Lionus replied "I know brother, I know, yet it galls me still; their deaths weight heavy on me"

"They fell fighting the forces of chaos Lionus" replied Wodan "Their deaths were not in vain"

"Thank you Wodan, they will be avenged" finished Lionus, leaving to pay his respects to the dead as Tallius went about his work.

Having paid his venerations to the dead and given his brothers time to organise themselves, Lionus addressed them, saying "We have been tasked with eliminating an Ork invasion yet now we find ourselves besieged by chaos' insidious forces. Our primary objective now is to link up with Helge's forces and attempt to make contact with Captain Aldhelm"

After a short pause, Lionus then continued "To that end: Annar, Alnwolf and Ullor, I need you and your men to scout out the surrounding area. Our data suggests that this moon was once an important mining centre. There should still be structures and housing about for the miners, perhaps search for them as they'd make a better base of operations for Helge and his forces"

"At once sir!" replied his men, immediately preparing their squads.

After making their way through the brief and desolate forest, Alnwolf's men found themselves at the outskirts of the woodland, looking at the ruins of what could have once been a small city. Most of the structures lay in heaps of rubble, whilst those that still stood were little more than husks, few rising above three stories.

The city seemed a poor place to set up base and Alnwolf couldn't see any smoke to suggest the crash landing of a Thunderhawk; he doubted Helge was here. However, Helge's forces could have passed through here and the city bore worth in searching, for signs of Helge or chaos. They would have to be vigilant.

Radioing in his report and status, Alnwolf and his scouts cautiously went forth into the dead city.

"You're failure has cost me dearly" said the Sorcerer, his words venom.

"It was my men lord" replied Nareous "They disobeyed strict orders to hold fire" he attempted to reason. The Sorcerer would hear none of it.

"Their incompetence is yours worm, a result of your own ineptitude. You've forced my hand Nareous…" he spat, his voice taking a tone of amusement as he spoke the last few words.

"No, please Lord; spare me!" begged Nareous "I can still be of use to you"

"SILENCE!" shouted the Sorcerer, then after a brief pause he continued "I will be taking direct control of your forces from here on out. My brothers will be forced to reinforce us here. You bring great dishonour to me Nareous…" he let his last words hang in the air.

Nareous was in a state of ruin, panicked and terrified. He continued to plead, saying "Please Lord, spare me; I can still serve-"

Sickened, the Sorcerer cut him off "-You would make a poor sacrifice, an insult to the gods but yes, you can still be of service."

Smiling inwardly, he continued "You will go to the city and reinforce our garrison there. I will have the artillery repositioned accordingly. Soon the Emperor's dogs will arrive, ensure the trap is well sprung before you waste your men's lives"

Finally, in a taunting tone, the Sorcerer went on "Oh and Nareous…You will be leading the charge"

"Thank you my lord" cried Nareous as he supplicated himself before the Sorceror.

"Go now, maggot, prepare the ambush!" shouted the Sorcerer, laughing as Nareous ran out of the room. Though his death would accomplish little, it would at least amuse him.

After Alnwolf's squad had begun to scout out the city, Annar had arrived with his tactical squad, soon followed by Ullor's assault squad.

"This place bodes ill" said Annar "I feel as if watched".

They had trudged through the city now for roughly five minutes, only dull, weathered stone greeting them. Annar's squad had just made their way into one of the few two storied buildings in an effort to get a better view; so far their efforts had been in vain. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, a glint of steel caught Annar's eye, the shine much too bright for the worn city.

Moving closer to inspect the glint, Annar suddenly realised –

"OUT! NOW!" he bellowed to his men as he then dived to the side.

No sooner had Annar hit the ground than an engine rumbled and a deafening explosion shook the building. As the shell struck the wall at the far end of the room behind the squad, bits of rubble were strewn everywhere, the wall collapsing from the force of the shell's detonation. As Annar regained his feet, he stumbled as he was hit by falling bricks. "Brothers, on me" he shouted as he began to charge out of the building.

"Quickly my brothers, we must out flank this tank" said Annar as his men regrouped around him after a hasty retreat from the building.

As they began to move, Annar continued "Combat squads. Grimmen, find an elevated position if you can, we will try to outmanoeuvre the vehicle and engage with krak grenades. Move out!"

As Annar and his combat squad attempted to move round the tank he voxed to his brothers, warning them of their ambush and of chaos' presence here.

Shortly after hearing cannon fire, Ullor heard the report; Chaos were in the city. As much as he wanted to help his brothers they had to maintain their flank; as they had reached the city the vanguard forces had split up, Alnwolf taking centre, Annar the right and Ullor the left. Still, he knew Annar's men could handle themselves.

"Emperor protect us…" muttered Ullor as they moved on.

Calling his men to a stop, Ullor said "We'll hold position here until we know the situation" then swapping frequencies, he voxed Annar "Brother, what is your status?"

"We are under fire from some kind of close range artillery piece" replied Annar, the boom of cannon fire in the background.

"Have any other forces engaged you brother?" questioned Ullor.

"Not yet but no doubt they are out there. Be cautious brother" responded Annar.

"You too broth-"Ullor attempted to finish, interrupted by the sudden charge of a hulking figure, running madly across the street towards him. The figures armour, perhaps once grey, was a scabrous red, clotted in gore. Bronze still chased the armour. As the figure charged closer, brandishing a wicked looking chainaxe Ullor knew this could be only one foe; Khorne Berserkers. Now they faced true servants of the dark gods.

Alnwolf slowed his pace, expecting an ambush at any second. His men were the only ones that hadn't been engaged yet and he doubted that would last long.

"Brothers are you in position?" asked Alnwolf, addressing the members of his squad he had sent off ahead.

"Aye sir" they replied, ready and waiting.

Alnwolf and his surviving men had all split up, trying to cover as much ground as possible whilst minimising their chances of discovery. Alnwolf had searched for the most elevated position he could find in the area, wanting to make keen use of his sniper rifle and survey the area, whilst Kalln had tried to find a good place to mount his heavy bolter and Mornen had held further back to watch their flanks.

Once Alnwolf had his shot lined up he said simply "Fire!"

The tank they were pursuing was more agile than it had a right to be. Apparently having already pulled back before Annar's men had managed to leave the building, it had waited for them around a corner further ahead, overlooking its last position.

As Annar and his men made for the corner, unaware of the threat waiting for them, they heard the roar of a soaring rocket then a powerful detonation. Picking up the pace they found their quarry, it's rear armour a smoking ruin. Before they could thank their brothers though, another engine roared and a second tank came speeding towards them, a mounted heavy bolter spraying at them. The tank was boxy in nature, low to the ground with sloped armour and a semi-fixed turret.

Noting that the tank had a limited field of fire, Annar ordered his mean to spread out and encircle it as he threw out a smoke grenade to cover their advance. The tank fired wildly as it reversed, trying to avoid the smoke.

As his brothers charged ahead, making the best use of the limited cover available to them, Annar split off from the group in an extended flanking manoeuvre. Making his way through and out a building to the right of the street the tank was reversing down, Annar then crossed another street before taking cover in an overlooking building; he didn't have to wait long.

Lobbing another smoke grenade to cover their advance as they turned a corner, Annar's men continued their assault of the tank. After Torgen had taken out the heretic manning the heavy bolter no one had replaced him, making their pursuit easier; their only threat the infrequent and erratic tank shells streaking by.

As Annar saw the tank near, pursued by his brothers, he prepared himself, readying his chainsword and a krak grenade. As it came in range he jumped, landing heavily atop the tank as he drove his chainsword down with all his might and weight. Grinding against the thick armour, the chainsword bounced off, holding for now. Trying again with redoubled effort, Annar brought his sword down again on the same point. Catching on the indent made by the last effort the chainsword at last cut its way through, tearing apart the crude steel.

Aghast, the heretics desperately grabbed for laspistols, trying to shoot at the madmen atop their vehicle. Before they could fire a volley Annar had already dropped his grenade through the rent. Jumping off the tank and rolling as he hit the ground, Annar watched, satisfied, as the tank exploded calamitously, his grenade detonating their munitions and massively increasing the power of the detonation; little remained of the tank and crew.

Regrouping with his men, Annar's celebrations were cut short by the sudden burst of bolter fire, hitting him in the hip. The shots obliterated the ceramite, gouging the armour horribly. The force of the shots kicked his legs out from under him, sending him crashing on his back.

As more bolter fire started to roar, Annar watched desperately as he tried to regain his feet and pull out a weapon as one of the shooters came nearer, lining up the finishing shot. His power armour was of an ancient design, dating all the way back to the Horus Heresy; the Mark IV Maximus Armour. A Pale white chased by dark grey, it was highlighted with gold and bronze. The helmet's eyes glowed an unnatural purple, as did the runes and glyphs that covered the armour. A Chaos Marine.

Staring at the traitor's bolter as he scrambled for his pistol, Annar saw it was adorned with skulls, a bronze frame ending in a screaming maw terminating at the barrel of the gun. Raising his pistol, Annar knew he would be too slow; he prayed that his armour would hold long enough from him to fire a few shots himself and take the bastard with him. The traitor's finger began to tighten the trigger.

His head snapping back, the traitor's helmet exploded in a shower of gore, before he crumpled to the ground. Annar thanked the Emperor as he surged back up to his feet, charging at the nearest Renegade he could find, brandishing his chainsword and crying out to his men.

Attempting to block a blow from the chainaxe, Ullor was knocked back, forcing him to duck the next blow. As he dropped under the swing the traitor brought his knee crashing up into Ullor's helmet, cracking one of the lenses and sending him reeling back.

The berserker gave him no quarter, swinging in again before Ullor could regain his footing. Raising his blade, Ullor desperately tried to block the swing. The force of the attack jarred his chainsword from his grip, breaking his wrist and sending his weapon scraping uselessly across the floor.

Rolling backwards out of the way of another attack, Ullor brought up his pistol and managed to crack off a shot at the traitor before his bolt pistol was kicked from his hand. Runes blazed about the armour, a fiery read, as Ullor's shot struck the berserker in the chest, their unholy magicks turning the round aside. The berserker raised his chainaxe for the killing blow.

As the traitor's arm began the strike he was knocked back a step as another shot caught him in the chest, then in the shoulder, as Kaln broke from his melee a moment to assist his Sergeant. The runes covering his armour began to glow more violently until finally they burned out and faded, provoking a scream from the berserker. The last shot struck his helmet, obliterating the helm and sending the traitor crashing into the floor.

Despite the grievous wound the berserker began to push himself back up to his feet, the left side of his face a bloody mess. Quickly drawing his knife, Ullor ran over to the traitor, plunging his blade deep into his skull, finally silencing the berserker.

Hastily thanking Kaln as he reclaimed his chainsword and bolt pistol, putting away the pistol whilst he wielded the chainsword with his good hand, Ullor took stock of the fight, looking for a foe to face.

Ullor knew this was a battle not in their favour; their psychotic enemy succumbed only to the most grievous of wounds, they were outnumbered and their foe fought with wild abandon, a fury hard to match and skill found in few sane men.

Ullor screamed to his men "No mercy, only fury!" before he charged at the nearest berserker; he would spend his life dearly.

Alnwolf and his scouts were everywhere at once, melting in and out of cover and attacking as if from nowhere. They had killed many and slowed more but they were too few and their efforts only delaying the inevitable. Knowing this, Alnwolf voxed to the forces in the city "Brothers, we must withdraw".

"We cannot" replied Annar "My men are in danger of being overrun and if we leave now they will cut us down as we run"

"Aye, us too" added Ullor "damned berserkers have us surrounded"

"We'll cover your retreat" replied Alnwolf, knowing only too well it was suicide.

"No brother" said Annar "you and your scouts must leave now, report back to Lionus and warn him. We will-"

Cut off mid-sentence, Annar was interrupted by a vox across all frequencies, a powerful chanting taking over. The chanting turned into bellowing as the catechisms of hate were completed. Then great detonations were heard repeatedly through the city, the sounds of which Alnwolf knew belonged to Vindicators and Whirlwinds. Reinforcements were here, Helge's forces had found them.

"This is Helge my sons, we are here. The Emperor has guided us to this foe, now crush them!" As he finished, thundering the last few words, Helge then went on to the rights of purity. Inspired by their father, the Red Guard fought with unparalleled zeal, redoubling their efforts.

The ambush had cost them dearly. Two of Ullor's men lay dead, the rest wounded, Ullor's left arm nearly useless now. But they had made the enemy pay dearly, many berserker corpses now choking the room. Had it not been for Kalln's heavy bolter fire they would doubtless have fallen; swapping from position to position so rapidly, he had left the enemy thinking they were pinned by a devastator squad.

Ullor's chainsword had been destroyed by some mad guardsmen amongst the berserkers, charging him with a power sword. His fatigues had marked him out as an officer of high rank and his presence had confused Ullor. Irrespective Ullor had been reduced to his combat knife after the last wave, having spent the last of his ammunition on the guardsmen hordes that had started to follow after the berserkers.

The Red Guard combat knife looked much like an inverted sickle, the blade running along under the wielder's forearm with a punch dagger fitted atop the hand guard. A deadly weapon, it is light and swift, allowing the Astarte's to show surprising agility.

It had been too long now since the enemy's last push and Ullor was wondering what they were up to. The blow from the berserkers knee must have damaged his vox unit because all it emitted was static interrupted by brief moments of distorted chanting; Ullor guessed that the enemy may be broadcasting some fell chanting and rites over their coms and abruptly shut off his com. Still, unable to receive any word from his brothers Ullor troubled over how they were holding up.

The ground began to rumble beneath their feet and Ullor knew a tank was approaching; the enemy had finally begun another push. With grim determination Ullor gathered his surviving brothers to repel another wave.

They had made good time through the city, bulldozing their way through most of the rubble and driving round the worst of it. The Captain Class Predator, now a Red Guard specific model featuring two side-mounted destroyer cannons and a twin-linked destroyer cannon as its main gun, was nearing its objective. It was called the 'Angel's Wrath' and was operated by Torin, one of Helge's men.

The Captain Class was designed during the Horus Heresy and few still remained to this day, the template lost and its use largely discouraged. It had been designed to kill traitor Astarte's and had unfortunately seen much use by the enemy also, earning the tank a sinister reputation and heavy stigma.

"Torin, motion detected in the building up ahead sir!" said gunner Aveln.

"Hold! There could still be friendly forces in the area; wait for visuals before firing" ordered Torin.

Through his HUD Torin saw the tanks ancient and sophisticated auspexs zoom in and bring up a clear visual of the figures up ahead, bringing a sigh of relief to his lips as he found them to be friendlies, some of Lionus' separated brothers he assumed.

Trying to raise them on his vox unit, Torin couldn't seem to get any reply from them. Opening the hatch he beckoned to them. At this an Astartes separated himself from the group and began to make his way to the 'Angel's Wrath'.

"Is that you brother?" said Ullor, happy to see an old friend.

"You old dog Ullor, what are you doing up here?" replied Torin, likewise relieved to see his friend still standing.

"We were searching for you and the rest of Helge's forces when we were ambushed by these accursed traitors" replied Ullor grimly, still enraged by the thought of such filth hiding beneath their noses in their own system.

"Transport will be here soon for you and your brothers, hang in there" responded Torin.

"Thank you brother, bring the wrath of the emperor down upon them!" replied Ullor in passing.

Nodding respectfully to his friend, Torin then signalled to his crew before rolling out again, searching for hostiles.

"They have reinforcements" said Marduk "Nareous had assured us they'd been taken out before they could land"

"Another of his failures" retorted the Sorceror "To be expected. Order our units to fall back and regroup, the rest of our forces will be waiting for them"

"At once Lord" replied Marduk. He was second in command to the Sorceror, acting as part of his honour guard. A giant of a man his suit of terminator was silver with gold trim and black shoulder pads, a mockery of the Iron Warriors and a parting insult.

The Sorceror allowed the presence of the guardsmen as a blunt tool, cannon fodder to throw at the enemy. They could weaken an enemy, test and probe them but never conquer them. In return he allowed them to wear their Warbands' colours and to sometimes fight alongside them.

Their snivelling sickened the Sorceror and he knew well their fear; he had seen it in all of their predecessors. Still, their deaths could oft prove useful.

"They're retreating!" said Volkaer of Helge's Honour Guard "What are your orders Father?"

Once the enemy had rallied from their initial strike they had quickly been broken again. Helge was renown amongst the Red Guard for his Blitzkrieg assaults; a grizzled and ancient veteran, he had executed many.

Helge had always lead his brothers from the front, leading by example and whipping them into an unstoppable fervour. A true priest warrior, he brought the word of the emperor to his foes, commending their souls to the Emperor's judgement as he cast them down.

After first bombarding the enemy with the whirlwind missile launcher and vindicator tanks, Helge had sent in Rhino transports to drop of tactical squads across key locations. Once the tactical squads were in position the assault squads then came up, taking to the skies and descending amongst the enemy, sowing disruption and death.

Once the Rhinos had dropped of Helge's men he then sent them round to pick up Lionus' surviving men once they had been found. Finally, Helge's bike squad had flanked the enemy along with the remaining armour, utterly breaking the enemy.

"Do not pursue the enemy" replied Helge, his deep voice powerful and commanding "It is a trap, their forces are still in strength and they are merely regrouping with reinforcements. We cannot risk being caught out in the open so we shall hold here and weather their assault."

Then, speaking to the Razorback's operator, Helge said "Take us to the front"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – Back to Base

"Lionus, there are Rhinos approaching out position" said Wodan, watching the transports flick up a trail of dust behind them as they sped towards the airbase.

"They are likely Helge's, good; it seems our brothers have been successful in their mission" replied Lionus, pleased to find a sign that their lost brothers may be okay.

"Wait …it appears they're being pursued!" responded Wodan grimly.

"Get me my Razorback!" ordered Lionus "and _Death's Behest_. Whilst we go to their aid I want Grimheld to be ready to support us and Hildegard's Devastators to cover us as they come in range. Men, move out!"

His brothers followed his orders swiftly and soon they were in position, with Lionus aboard his Razorback with his honour Guard and _Death's Behest_ at their side.

The heretic's vehicles were surprisingly swift, darting back and forth between the Rhinos, menacing them and raining fire down upon them. Multilasers whined and heavy bolters chattered, raking across the transports hulls. No critical damage had been done yet but it was only a matter of time if the punishing fired continued and try as they might, the Rhinos were unable to shake their pursuers.

As one closed in, attempting to ram Annar's Rhino, its forked ram mounted to the front of the vehicle spiked and deadly, _Death's Behest_ fired, the twin-linked lascannon utterly destroying the vehicle and flipping it over. Before the other vehicles could react Lionus' Razorback opened up with its own lascannons, punching easily through another of the lightly armoured vehicles.

Reacting to the new threat the three surviving tanks spread out, engaging the Red Guard reinforcements. Two assaulted _Death's Behest_ whilst one came for Lionus' Razorback. Barely had the traitors started to fire their multilasers before Lionus returned fire, shredding through their front armour and punching out through the rear, detonating the munitions and destroying the crew along the way.

_Death's Behest_ first opened fire on the nearest vehicle with his lascannon, hitting it in the side and crippling it, before turning on the last tank with both destroyer cannons and shredding through the light armour, mincing the crew. Circling round behind the crippled tank, _Death's Behest_ then finished it off with another volley from its destroyer cannons, ruining their rear armour and detonating their engines and fuel, the tank transforming into a brutal inferno.

Another three tanks appeared, heavily armed and armoured Leman Russ'. They stopped just out of range of Lionus and his men. As if waiting for Lionus to make the first move the three tanks held their position, weapons ready and waiting for them to come into range. Before Lionus could answer the stalemate the tanks turned about and left as suddenly they had come.

Voxing the Astartes about him, Lionus said "Form up on me, now brothers! I mistrust the traitor's actions".

As Lionus and his men were about to set off, he noticed a figure crawl out of one of the Chimeras, bloodied and his right leg at an unnatural angle. "Quickly brothers, take him in; non-lethal methods, I want him for questioning" Lionus said as he sent his Honour Guard to capture the wounded traitor.

Not long after Borthen returned to the Razorback, carrying the heretic easily over one shoulder after restraining his hands and feet together with plastiwire, a dense alloy that tightened the more one struggled.

Clapping Borthen on the shoulder, Lionus was about to order his men to leave when a sudden lascannon shot streaked past him, swiftly followed by another two krak missiles, and Hildegard's voice suddenly called over the vox "Heretic reinforcements Lionus, watch out! There's a whole army of them out there".

Taking heed of his brother's words, Lionus then ordered to his men "Mount up and move out; fall back to base immediately"

As the transports and their escort made their way back to the airbase, Lionus saw on the Razorback's internal monitor the threat Hildegard had spoken of. Behind them was a horde of fast closing tanks, billowing black fumes worse than Ork craft.

The quickest of the tanks were nearly upon them, the lightly armoured vehicles clearly focused more on speed. Further back was an array of far more heavy tanks, ranging from Devil Dogs and Bane Wolves to the awesome might of Leman Russ', Punisher and Executioner patterns as well as the infamous and ubiquitous Battle Tank marks with their powerful cannons, as easily at home devastating tanks as troops.

As the Red Guard tanks gunned their engines, speeding away and desperately trying to outdistance the heretic vanguard, _Death's Behest _and Lionus' Razorback turned their main guns about, firing on the tanks that dared to come too close. Their lascannons fired again and again, taking down five of the fell tanks before they breached the gap. Each tank their lascannons struck exploded into massive infernos, flames billowing out all around them. The tanks had to be filled with some kind of explosives, the mad heretics attempting to suicide bomb them in their fervour.

Despite their best efforts, some of the traitors light tanks made it passed _Deaths' Behest_ and Lionus' fire, one tank managing to ram into the side of one of the Rhinos and detonating in a massive and devastating radius, the force of the blast almost flipping over the Rhino and severely damaging its right tracks and exit point.

Noting these tanks posed a serious threat, Lionus voxed to his brothers back at the airbase "Grimheld, hold back for now, we cannot risk one of these suicide bombers damaging you unnecessarily. Hildegard, I need you to focus you're fire on the heretic vanguard before they overwhelm us".

At once the devastators redirected their fire, krak missiles streaking towards the traitors and lascannons beams piercing them. With their focused fire, the Red Guard began to slaughter the vanguard, quickly shrinking from thirty to but five tanks which promptly slowed down and relinquished their chase.

After the vanguard broke off, the second line of traitors pulled to an immediate stop, possibly having received new orders. They held their ground as Lionus and his men sped away, finally reaching the safety of the airbase, both sides' weapons in range. Not wanting to risk a protracted fire fight and unnecessary casualties, Lionus ordered his men to hold fire for now, only to return fire if fired upon; they would deal with these traitors again later on their own terms.

After they had all debarked from their transports, Lionus approached the survivors of his own vanguard forces, asking them worriedly "Brothers, what happened?"

Ullor responded, saying "We were ambushed by chaos forces sir. They must have been waiting for us shortly after we took this airbase. Had it not been for Helge we would have surely been overrun"

Continuing on from his brother, Annar then said "Their presence here is strong and their technologies strange; my squad was ambushed by tanks like those now smoking outside our walls but they had heavy cannons mounted at their front."

"Aye" interjected Ullor again "and they had some way of controlling their berserkers; they charged my brothers and I yet after being met with heavy fire they halted and even took cover before they retreated. No berserkers see past their rage!"

Considering their words, Lionus then said "These are poor tidings brothers but we will root out all of the chaos forces on this moon and with Helge and his sons at our side the Emperor's will shall be done"

To punctuate his words Lionus formed the symbol of the Aquila across his chest before bringing his fist over his hearts. In answer a mighty clamour rang out as his brothers clashed their fists against their chests in honour to him and the Emperor.

Once the clamour had died down, Hildegard voxed Lionus urgently, saying "The enemy are advancing again. The second wave is attacking!"

"Man the walls!" cried Lionus.

The advancing enemy were greatly varied in armament and transport; as well as the Leman Russ' and 'Dog' tanks, Chimera transports were amongst their numbers, Sentinel Walkers in both scout and armoured variants as well as many of the unknown tanks that had assaulted them before.

So far as Lionus could tell there were no artillery pieces set before them, though there could be basilisks or other long range artillery positioned out of sight he reckoned; it couldn't hurt to be cautious with this foe.

In amongst the tanks were a thousand heretics on foot. Some were armed with lasguns though many more were armed with more primitive weapons, solid slug projectiles like autoguns and stubbers, even some shotguns. All of the heretics were garbed in the soiled ashen grey uniforms of their predecessors, all covered in vile runes of chaos.

After having heard his brother's reports, Lionus was now aware that Chaos Space Marines were also on the moon and were most likely the ones leading this operation. Though he couldn't see any of these wicked foes he was sure they were out there somewhere, surveying the battle.

The order most have went out because the heretics stopped their vigil and charged, the guardsmen sprinting forwards as the tanks held their ground. They must be testing their forces, reckoned Lionus, sending in their grunts to reveal the airbases weaknesses so the more valuable units could exploit them.

Swapping their krak missiles out for frags, Hildegard's devastators fired the moment the heretics began their charge; tightly packed together as the traitors were, the shrapnel from the frag missiles shredded dozens of them with each shot. Undeterred the traitors came on.

As the devastators continued their fire, Annar's tactical marines, along with Freyr's, let loose their own volley, bolter rounds detonating throughout the traitor lines, the tightly packed heretics nigh on impossible for the Red Guard to miss. With each shot a traitor fell, torsos ruined and skulls obliterated.

Despite their casualties the traitors were still advancing, coming closer step by bloody step. Within the airbase waited Grimheld, having been repaired by Nertheus' artifices, along with _Death's Behest_, eager to be unleashed.

Then some of the traitors armour began to roll out, a few headed towards the heretic horde to lay down covering fire but most went around the flanks of the airbase, splitting left and right. As they closed on the base Hildegard yelled "Fire!"

Again equipping the anti-tank krak missiles, Hildegard's devastators split their fire between the three fronts, aiming for the biggest threats. The first volley was largely directed at the few Leman Russ' that had moved up, their guns a grave threat to all but the most heavily armoured.

Of the three Leman Russ' two still stood, one with its main cannon damaged and the other only superficially damaged, the massive armour of the powerful tanks holding against all but the most precise and damaging shots. The wrecked tank had been an Executioner mark, the lucky lascannon shot that struck the Plasma cannons coolant tanks causing them to super-heat above sustainable levels; when they overloaded they brought the rest of the tank down with them, the overcharged plasma melting through even the superior armour of the Leman Russ.

Taking aim again, three shots were directed at the surviving two Leman Russ', the fourth at the most zealous of the flanking transports to the left. The already maimed Leman Russ took a critical hit, a lascannon striking it along its side armour and managing to penetrate through the armour to the engines, leaving it immobilised. The other Leman Russ survived another lascannon shot, its front armour bearing the blow and only suffering denting and some further superficial damage, but the krak missile was a lucky shot, hitting the muzzle of the wide demolisher cannon and exploding within the cannon, the back blast incinerating the crew within and detonating the munitions, the tank transforming into a raging inferno. Finally the transport was rewarded for its zeal by having its left tracks utterly ruined and armour severely dented, leaving it dead in the water.

As Hildegard's devastators continued to rain down fire on the heretics tanks, Annar and Freyr's Tactical squads were becoming hard pressed. The enemy in their great numbers were pressing ever closer, now almost to the foot of the airbases surrounding hills. The enemy were returning fire now and fire traced all around the encamped Red Guard, most shots straying wide of their mark but those that struck home, though not inflicting any casualties so far, were a risk that was only intensifying.

Finally, clambering over the mound of dead that had formed near the base of the hills, the traitors set foot on the hill; it was time.

The gate couldn't open fast enough for Grimheld and _Death's Behest _as they charged out to meet the traitors on the right had side of the hill whilst Lionus and his honour guard went out to the right in their razorback, backed up by Wodan and his terminators in their redeemer.

Suddenly the tide was turned as the Red Guard second wave came forth, letting loose a withering fire on the horde of traitors before them. Before the heretics could react Lionus' lascannons utterly destroyed a Chimera whilst the Redeemer lit up the heretics that had attempted to outflank their tactical squads.

On the left flank _Death's Behest _was gunning through the massed vehicles, tracking multiple targets at once and destroying them utterly and without mercy. Grimheld waited back, spraying the tanks with his assault cannon and shredding their armour and crews, waiting for them to come in range of his immense power fist.

"Hildegard, have your men focus fire on any threats to our armour, we'll take care of the rest" ordered Lionus.

"At once" Hildegard replied, his brothers firing another barrage, destroying easily the lightly armoured Devil Dogs and Bane Wolves that were based on the Chimera model of tank. As such they were lighter and quicker than the Leman Russ yet no were near as heavily armed and armoured.

After the arrival of Grimheld and _Death's Behest_, suddenly the heretics on that front were loath to come closer, parking up there tanks and trying to gun them down before coming any closer. This made them easy targets for Hildegard's devastators and _Death's Behest_ yet Grimheld was most devastating at close quarters.

Charging to meet the foe, Grimheld continued to saturate them with his assault cannon, quickly closing the gap between them with gargantuan steps, the earth trembling beneath him. Blowing out the nearest tanks engines so it couldn't escape, Grimheld aimed his charge at it, coming forth like an enraged juggernaut.

Trying desperately, the immobilised tank managed to fire its obnoxious chemical flamethrower, spewing a vile concoction that could melt flesh from bone. Hildegard had no flesh and the Bane Wolf held no fear for him. After closing the gap between, Hildegard brought down his power fist in a thunderous blow, the energy field of the power fist crackling about it as it caved in the front of the tank, crushing the crew within and ruining the tank.

Terrified of the armoured behemoth before them, the traitor tanks turned their guns to meet him. Taking advantage of this _Death_'s_ Behest_ began to outflank them, gunning them down all the while as Hildegard's brothers began to focus their fire on the still stationery tanks.

Between them the fire was horrendous and within seconds another five tanks were silenced, transformed into gutted and flaming wrecks. Dodging in and out between the heretic's tanks, Grimheld used them as cover, preventing the other tanks from being able to fire on him.

Firing at breakneck speed, Grimheld's assault cannon tore through one traitor's tank before he punched through another, lifting the Devil Dog high above him before discarding it to the side. An angel of death, Grimheld slaughtered his way through the enemy, going from one tank to another, unstoppable.

At the airbase, despite the reinforcement's best efforts, the heretic horde still advanced relentlessly. The bodies were piled high at the foot of the airbase hill, making it harder for the enemy but still they came on, scrabbling over the corpses and getting a little closer each time.

"Ullor, Dagmar, it is time; adaptability is strength" said Annar over the vox.

"Disruption power!" finished Ullor and Dagmar, quoting the Red Guard maxim.

The assault squads jump packs roared as they were launched skyward, burning a trail over the hill to descend heavily amongst the traitors waiting there. At the height of their jump the assault marines threw a mix of flash and frag grenades ahead of them, detonating a second after they landed. In an instant dozens were shredded by the shrapnel and many more severely disorientated by the brilliant flashes and deafening detonations, then they were upon them.

A whirlwind of steel and death, the assault marines were always eager to bring the wrath of the Emperor to his foes in person, despatching them with brutal precision. They didn't give the enemy a chance to rally, slashing from left to right, hacking at any heretics foolish enough to come within range.

After killing those at the foot of the hill, Ullor and Dagmar charged forth, cleaving through all that stood in their way. As Ullor cut down a sergeant trying to rally his men, disparaging them further Dagmar used his lightning claws with brutal efficiency, cutting through the autogun a traitor had raised pathetically in an effort to block the incoming strike. The shoddy steel did little to slow the blow, the deadly blades of Dagmar's lightning claws cutting through them like paper before continuing the blow down and through the chest of the traitor, ruining the heretic's chest in a gore of blood.

Not far behind their sergeants, the rest of the assault marines charged in behind them, cutting a bloody swathe through the enemy, the screaming of the enemy and chainswords grinding against bone filling the air as Annar and Freyr's men stitched covering fire around them, gunning down the traitors further ahead or that dared to try and come round behind the assault marines. It quickly turned into a massacre.

After disembarking from their transport, Wodan and his terminators advanced on the enemy, firing their storm bolters as they came on. Their tremendous firepower was brutal at such close range, cutting down the troopers that had begun to disembark from their Chimeras.

The heretics that had been aboard the transports were better equipped than the rabble thousand. They must have once been storm troopers or based on them as they were armed with the customary elite hotshot lasguns and garbed in formidable carapace armour. Though carapace armour was the standard for Space Marine scouts, it far outweighed the standard issue flak armour. Well-armed and armoured, if they were as well trained they would pose a more serious threat.

One of the transports tried foolishly to run down Wodan, gunning the engine and speeding madly at him. As the Chimera came closer, viciously spiked ram jutting out from the front, Wodan fired off two krak missiles from the cyclone missile launcher fitted on his back, a large frame housing many missiles and fitted to his suits internal systems and aiming diagnostics.

The two missiles struck either side of the tank, one shot blowing out the side armour and showering the occupants with the broken metal, the other shot crippling its tracks and immobilising it. Just to be sure though, Wodan then lined up his assault cannon and gave the transport a good valley, riddling it with holes from end to end and finishing off whatever crew may have survived the initial blasts.

As Wodan and his terminators dealt with elite heretics, Lionus and his honour guard disembarked to engage the nearing tanks and then flank the heretics and assist the assault squads. As they did this both the Redeemer and the Razorback circled round the tanks, continuing to engage them.

Under the cover of the Razorback and the Redeemers fire, Lionus and his honour guard sprinted at the heretics. At the head of the charge, Lionus threw a smoke grenade to conceal their advance, piercing the thick grey smoke easily with his helmets infrared vision. Stray rounds flew past them in the smoke cloud as they charged on.

Finally clearing the obscuring veil, Lionus waited for Toren to fire on the first transport before he ran at it. Toren's shot had melted most of the left half of the tank so Lionus ran round to the other side. When he reached the door to the Chimera he began to hack into it with his power axe, felling it like a tree. After three blows Lionus had rent a sizable a whole into the armoured door. Pressing the muzzle of his storm bolter to the rent, Lionus fired on full auto strafing from side to side. Just to be sure though, he holstered his axe for a moment and pulled out another frag grenade. Lobbing it through the gap in the tank, Lionus then went off in search of more prey.

Not far behind Lionus was Borthen and his brother Harlen, working together to take out the tanks. As Borthen would crush the nearest tank with his maul, Harlen would wait for the surviving traitors to bail out, slaughtering them with his power claws as they attempted to flee.

Harren and Farlen paired off, Farlen tearing his way through and into the tanks with his massive power fist as Harren then doused the tanks with his heavy flamer. They had already taken down one tank and were making their way towards another Chimera full of elite troops.

The Chimeras, having seen the destruction before them, began to disgorge their troops early then pull out, retreating back to the remaining third wave of heretics. As Torren moved up to cover Lionus, they began to face fiercer resistance, elite troops forming firing lines and letting loose volley after volley at them.

The storm troopers hotshot lasguns were overcharged variants of the standard issue lasguns, their shots so powerful that they could penetrate even the mighty power armour of the space marines. Despite this it still took a lot of fire to do any serious wounds to a space marine thanks to their genetically enhanced physiology and the hotshot lasguns were notorious for their overheating and backfiring; overcharging the weapons came at a cost and if the state of the other traitor tech was anything to go by these lasguns were as likely to hurt the user as the target.

Firing a shot off with his melta gun, liquefying a storm trooper in the first and second rank, Torren then ducked behind one of the wrecked tanks, fire strafing his position. Briefly checking his armour, Torren felt it was intact though he had taken a wound to his left shoulder; with the adrenaline flowing threw him he hadn't even noticed.

A second later Lionus ducked behind the same piece of cover.

"The fire is getting pretty intense" Torren said to Lionus, a smile hidden behind his snouted helmet.

"Agreed brother" replied Lionus succinctly. Then, voxing the rest of his squad he said "Torren and I are pinned down brothers, we need covering fire; I repeat, we are taking heavy fire. Watch out, these traitors sport hotshots, they are not to be taken lightly"

In a manner of seconds a bolt of plasma took out another of the traitors, his body launched into the other traitors beside him. Turning about to engage the new threat the traitors were suddenly engulfed in flame, the inferno coming from the opposite flank and covering them completely. Those closest to the inferno were killed almost instantly, the heat of the flames devouring them. Those furthest away though ran around in agony, vainly trying to beat out the flames as they were consumed.

_Death's Behest_ was surrounded by gutted tanks, most of the forces that had tried their luck along this front now amongst their number. After the sustained fire the Commander class Predator had been laying down it would soon have to return to the airbase to rearm and reload. For now though, they wanted to eliminate as many of the foe as possible before retiring.

Suddenly, a horrendous scream pierced the din of the battlefield, almost deafening, and a shell struck _Death's Behest, _severely denting the Predator's front armour and temporarily disabling their targeting systems. Then another scream and a shattering impact ruined their right tracks, leaving _Death's Behest_ immobilised.

The fell tank that fired the shells was more daemon than machine, radiating malice. Where the other heretical tanks were ashen and grey this one was a glaring crimson, the surface composed mostly of flesh, muscle and sinew, a large iron barrel jutting out from the flesh near the centre of the tank. It was squat and ugly, sides sloped inwards like those in the dead town that had lain in ambush.

The barrel at its centre was disproportionately massive in comparison to the tanks chassis, stabbing out from a distended maw from which emitted the unholy wailing. Its' blood thirst was its undoing and as the tank came in closer for the kill, Dagmar and his men were able to take advantage of this, diving over the tank and dropping their meltabombs on it before they landed behind it.

After the crump of the meltabombs detonating, there was an even more piercing and shrill scream as the daemon let known its pain. The daemons armour may well have withstood a lesser weapon but meltabombs detonated with such heat and ferocity that it threatened even the mighty armour of Land Raiders.

As such most of the daemons front armour was melted and warped inwards by the blasts, the flesh charred and bubbling and its massive cannon ruined, the heat causing the barrel to dip inwards. The daemon lived yet still though, its otherworldly properties making it hard to truly kill.

Through the unholy magicks of chaos the tanks maw distended again, spitting out the last of the cannon and roaring at the assault marines as it turned about to face them, enraged. When Dagmar saw into the beast's maw he could see the very immaterium itself, tortured faces appearing and disappearing at rapid speeds, as if trying to break free of their torment before being dragged bag down to hell.

As the daemon tank rumbled towards them, Baldrik, one of Dagmar's men, charged at it with his thunder hammer. Coming closer the daemon suddenly grew wicked spikes from its charred sinew, bone like. Jumping over and to the right of the tank, Baldrik dealt a severe blow to the daemon, bringing the hammer down with all his weight and strength.

The hammer blow crushed the armour inwards and sent the tank lurching on one track for a couple of seconds before it came crashing down again to land on both tracks. Further enraged the tank turned about again, once more speeding at Baldrik.

Taking advantage of the beast whilst it was distracted, the rest of Dagmar's men threw a volley of krak grenades at its rear. Detonating against the weaker tanks rear armour, the krak grenades managed to blow off whole chunks of its armour, managing to get pass the fleshy outer layer. The grenades must have managed to reach the engines and as the fell chaos engine came to a stop and started to smoke profusely, thick black fumes spewed out from the rents in its armour.

After this last devastating blow the daemon began to scream ever loader, raising to such volume that all nearby heretics began to drop to their knees, blood flowing from their noses and ears, desperately clasping their hands to their ears in an effort to block out the horrific noise. The scream only increased in volume, beginning to overwhelm even the Red Guard's enhanced physiology, their helmets noise isolators no longer able to cope.

Falling to one knee, blood freely trickling from his nose and ears, Baldrik felt he had only one option. Forcing himself back on his feet, he came towards the howling daemon, pushing himself on step by step as he came closer to the source of the overwhelming noise.

Five metres from the tank the noise became so horrendous that one of Baldrik's hearts burst. His head was pounding, the blood feeling as if it were boiling, each thought a fight, each step more sluggish.

Desperately trying to bring his hammer up for a strike, Baldrik's strength finally fled him and once more he fell to his knees. He was dying and he knew it. Then he saw a light, pure and perfect, and he knew it to be the Emperor, knowing fleetingly his true person.

Suddenly filled with a new strength and holy vigour, Baldrik stood strong, getting up of his knees. Hefting his hammer high above his head he brought it down with righteous strength and furious anger, striking heavily the daemons gaping maw.

The crackling power field about the thunder hammer flashed brilliantly, sparks erupting from the power field generator as it struggled with the other worldly nature of the daemon. The blow was strong and true though and the daemon was no proof against it. With one last wretched howl, the beast was done, crumpling in on itself as if imploding, bleeding out of the material world.

No sooner had Dagmar's assault squad slain the demon tank than fire began to rain down on them. Retreating back and hiding behind the already wrecked tanks, the assault squad were heavily pinned.

Quickly glancing around the edge of his cover, Dagmar saw a massive tank, larger even than a Land Raider. Like the other vehicles its hull was ashen but chased with bronze and crimson. The tank was unknown to the Red Guard but its heavy armour and mounted reaper autocannon on top, with coaxial multilasers at each corner, proved it to be a considerable threat.

Charging out under cover of the reaper cannon and multilasers, huge Ogryns charged out after the assault doors opened. Abhumans, descended from long isolated human worlds, they were parodies of man, resembling what fairy tales may have once called Ogres, huge slabs of meat and muscle, stupid atavistic expressions transfixing their barbaric faces.

To any lesser beings they would have been terrifying, standing even taller and broader than a space marine. They were just as tough if not tougher than a space marine, not needing their armour to shrug off grievous wounds they could take immense amounts of punishment.

The standard issue for Ogryns was the Ripper Gun those these appeared to have forgone any ranged capability, trading them instead for massive axes, looking like executioner axes of old. Their bronze armour, made of heavy metal plates tied together, was covered in long dried blood and many skulls hung from their belts.

They were large even by Ogryn standards and as they charged the ground trembled beneath their feet, thunderous. As they charged they bellowed in deep, primitive voices "Blood for the blood god! Skulls for the skull throne!"

"_Behest_, Grimheld, requesting support immediately! Enemy heavies in bound" voxed Dagmar.

To face ten of these filthy abhumans with just five men would be suicidal and though honour bound and dutiful the Red Guard refused it to prevent them from acting in a tactically sound manner. They would need a lot of help if these foes were as tough as they looked.

Jumping back and away from the Ogryn Berserkers, Dagmar and his men opened fire on them as their jump packs carried them away. With the Ogryns armour akin to Ork 'Mega-Arma', massive sheets of metal primitively fixed together, their fire was all but useless, most ricocheting off of the thick steel plates or those few that got through doing little more than irritating the Ogryns, their massive strides almost keeping pace with their jump pack retreat.

"Sorry brothers" responded _Death's Behest_ "We've taken heavy damage and are immobilised. We can't get a bead on the enemy from here; recommend you try and lure the enemy into our field of fire"

"On my way" said Grimheld, his voice modulator turning the words into a flat, metallic monotone.

"Affirmative brothers, will do" replied Dagmar to _Death's Behest_.

After another jump, Dagmar and his brothers were still ahead of the Ogryns, though barely, and another barrage from their bolt pistols had little to no effect. Unless the Ogryns had specifically been ordered to attack Dagmar and his brothers, they may lose interest in a foe they can't capture and search out another foe.

"Brothers, stay back and give me cover" said Dagmar to the rest of his squad "We will need to hit and run if we are to lure them into our trap"

After saying this Dagmar charged headlong to meet the Ogryns, retracting the blades on his lightning claws and using them as power fists lest the foes armour be too thick for even their ancient artifice.

As Dagmar came in range of the first Ogryn he waited for him to strike first, side stepping the slow and clumsy blow, before jumping over him to the rear of the group and bringing both his fists down in a powerful blow directed at the last of the Ogryns back. The armour dented severely and caused some serious damage, blood pouring out from rents in the armour, causing the Ogryn to fall to one knee.

Before the Ogryn could recover Dagmar darted in with a left hook, ruining the left side of the Ogryns face and badly stunning it before he followed with a vicious uppercut from the right, snapping its head back with such force that he managed to snap its neck. With one felled Dagmar quickly jumped out of reach again as the raging Ogryns chased after him.

"In position" rasped Grimheld, just behind the rest of Dagmar's squad now.

"Heavies nearing the kill zone" voxed _Death's Behest_.

As his brothers fired off another volley before jumping back themselves, Dagmar charged in for one last assault. The nearest Ogryn brought his gargantuan bearded axe down in a vicious overhead strike, the power behind the blow easily enough to cleave through Dagmar's skull and likely the rest of his torso.

Swinging his left fist in an arc, Dagmar redirected the incoming blow enough to allow him to then dodge to the right of it, punching violently at the centre of the axe handle as the Ogryn began to pull it deep out of the earth. The blow shattered the thick wood handle, a shower of splinters harmlessly showering off of both of their armour.

Further maddened by the loss of its weapon, the Ogryn engaged with Dagmar slammed a massive fist into his chest, sending him flying to awkwardly land on his back and jump pack. Winded and bruised, Dagmar was aware of a few broken ribs but nothing life threatening, his chest armour slightly indented and cracked around the area of the fists impact.

Quickly forcing himself back on his feet, Dagmar was up just in time to see the Ogryn that had just struck him, his massive horned helmet and bionic eye marking him out as a 'bone 'ead', come after him levelling a sweeping backhand strike at his chest after having thrown aside his broken axe.

Too big otherwise, Dagmar detached his jump pack as he ducked under the blow, viciously jabbing the 'Bone 'Ead' in the gut. The armour around the blow crumpled and the Ogryn coughed up blood before attacking Dagmar again, trying to grab him in both hands and crush the life out of him.

Just managing to hop back and out of the way of the clumsy grab, Dagmar then quickly charged around his foe, aiming a devastating blow at its right leg. His power fist struck the side of his knee, shattering it and maiming the 'Bone 'Ead' terribly, its leg buckling under it, no longer to support its own massive weight.

Never giving his foe a moment, Dagmar moved in for the kill, striking the Ogryn in the spine and activating his power claws on impact, the lethal blades shearing through his organs and causing massive internal damage. Forcing his fist the rest of the way in, Freyr shoved his fist deep and up inside the 'Bone 'Eads' chest, crushing his heart and lungs before tearing them out in a shower of gore.

Rather than demoralised by the death of their leader the Ogryns entered a deeper fury yet still, now bellowing the words of their dark god Khorne again and again as they began to surround Dagmar.

Throwing the internals of the 'Bone 'Ead' at the closest Ogryns face, temporarily disorientating it, Dagmar tried to dodge past the surrounding Ogryns. Too tightly pressed though, his efforts were thwarted when an Ogryn grabbed him by the chest and hefted him up for a clear shot with its axe which it raised just after.

As the Ogryns blow began to descend towards Dagmar, his death certain if it were to connect, Grimheld fired his Assault cannon, the weight of fire shredding the legs of the Ogryn holding Dagmar. Still clenching Dagmar in its grasp as the Ogryn fell to both knees, it then grabbed him with both hands and began to crush him.

The Ogryns strength was inhuman, soon cracking his ceramite armour and the adamantium and plasteel layers beneath, breaking more of his ribs. As the world began to darken for Dagmar there was a sudden gout of blood and gore and he was dropped to the floor, gulping in deep breaths and quickly taking stock of the situation.

Grimheld's fist still emanated from the Ogryn's chest, having destroyed most of it. Despite their immense size the Ogryns still didn't stand as tall Grimheld, his ancient form terrible to behold then, caked in gore. Using the Ogryn still attached to his arm as a shield, Grimheld doused them with his heavy flamer, more of a distraction than a threat considering their constitution it still served to obscure the Ogryn's vision and slow their reactions.

"Go. Now!" shouted Grimheld metallically.

"Wodan, regroup on my position!" ordered Lionus over the din of the battlefield, firing his storm bolter in loud bursts. He and his Honour Guard had fought their way through the thickest of the enemies left flank, constantly pushing forward to cause maximum disruption. Torren had taken a serious shoulder wound and Borthen another chest wound and their advance was slowing, if it faltered they would surely be encircled and slaughtered; they needed Wodan's aid desperately.

"We are on our way Lionus, we will break them!" replied Wodan in his deep and amused voice, the sound of his assault cannon thundering throughout his vox.

Once the enemy had begun to disgorge their troops and form solid firing lines it had become much harder for Lionus and his brothers to advance, whichever route they took leading them into concentrated fire power. Were it not for their speed and Mk.8 power armour, his honour guard would have likely taken casualties.

The Mk.8 'Errant' armour was the newest of the power armours available to the Astartes, only awarded to veterans and high ranking marines. The weak points of the Mk.7 had been addressed, the main focus point being the large gorget that protected the necks of the space marines and the specially designed helmets designed to accommodate this, along with the fully internalised power and motivator cabling and reinforced limb joints.

Lionus himself wore a rare set of artificer armour, an ancient suit of power armour that had been repaired and upgraded so many times it would be impossible to replicate it exactly, awarded to him for his distinctions in the Deathwatch upon his return to the Red Guard. It too had recently been upgraded to add Mk.8 upgrades, namely the distinct gorget and fully internalised cabling.

Despite this the fire was still thick and deadly and none of them wanted to push their luck, rushing from cover to cover, the wrecked vehicles now becoming fewer and far between. Hacking the legs out from a heretic that had attempted to jump him behind the ruined Chimera he had just taken cover behind, Lionus swiftly brought his axe down again in a brutal arc that cleft deep into the traitor's chest and silenced him after a final death rattle.

Kneeling down, Lionus braced his arm atop a bent in corner of the gutted Chimera, trading fire with the storm troopers entrenched before him. The rate of fire directed at him was increased as the heretics fired on full auto, forcing him to duck back down behind the cover and suppressing him heavily.

Suddenly, some sort of mutant came charging round the right corner of the Chimera next to him. Its skin was black and leathery, covered sparingly in pale green scales. In its massive right hand it held a chain axe and where it's other arm should be there was only a mass of writhing tentacles, bright and purple.

Disgusted and sharp, Lionus managed to quickly fire a burst from his storm bolter almost point blank into the mutant, sending it flying back as blood blossomed from its chest, the shots strafing upwards from its gut. Looking about him for more, Lionus saw one trying to sneak up behind him, clutching what looked like some sort of spear in a feathered hand.

As Lionus noticed the sneaking mutant it jumped forwards, spear levelled at his throat. Raising his shield, Lionus bashed the clumsy strike up and to the left, unbalancing the mutant and causing it to take a step forwards. Lionus then took a step of his own and brought his axe round in a low arc, cutting easily through the mutants forward most leg and dropping it onto its side. Before it could get back up or think to try another jab, Lionus brought his axe down full in its throat.

His back to the Chimera, Lionus again quickly looked about him, his helmet's auto-senses picking up another three of the abhorrent forms he'd just fought, two coming from his left and another from the right. His suits sophisticated threat analysis systems highlighted the mutant to the right as the primary threat, bringing up a picture on his HUD of a plasma pistol.

Falling to one knee and raising his shield, Lionus covered himself as best he could from the deadly plasma bolts of the ancient technology. Dubbed 'Sun Guns' by the Imperial Guard they fired super-heated plasma in a gaseous state, launching the bolt via linear magnetic launchers. The ball of plasma, equivalent to a solar flare, is maintained in a magnetic containment field that disperses on impact, venting the super-heated plasma on the enemy and most often vaporising them.

Plasma guns, though now a lost and ancient technology, were terrifying to behold, their sheer destructive capacity enough to threaten even a terminator. The mutant managed to crack of a shot first and Lionus ducked wholly behind his storm shield. The bolt struck his shield full in the centre, the heat unreal. Despite the shields internal gravitic energy field, blue lightning crackling about its surface and giving it its name, Lionus still felt the heat, his right shoulder pad melting down to its adamantium layer.

Before the mutant could fire another shot, Lionus levelled his own weapon, firing on full auto. Some of the shots went wide but a large cluster struck him from his legs to his skull, almost entirely shredding the mutant in a wash of gore. If the pistol hadn't been corrupted it would well be worth adding to their armoury, the technology heavily prised and extremely rare.

Barely having enough time to turn and raise his shield, Lionus felt the impact through the earth of sprinting mutants behind him. The first strike hit with such ferocity that it turned Lionus' shield hand, leaving him wide open for another attack. Reeling from the hammer blow, Lionus was then struck by a chainsword, the blades grinding and tearing at his already weakened shoulder armour and managing to bite through to the black carapace beneath and draw blood.

Bashing upwards with his shield, Lionus knocked the chainsword away before rolling backwards and quickly coming back up on his feet. The mutant with the hammer stood back this time, crossing its claw over the hammer in a challenge to Lionus before letting the other mutant charge in.

As the mutant with the chainsword brought its weapon down in a brutal strike, grinding against the storm shield, it then quickly brought the sword back up and round to block Lionus' counter strike. As the two weapons clashed sparks flew everywhere and for a few seconds the two opponents were locked in a test of strength.

The energy around Lionus' power axe began to coruscate more intensely, lightning crackling about the blade. The chainsword whirred away, beginning to belch black smoke as the engine struggled and the teeth of the chainsword began to shatter.

Finally the chainsword failed and the power axe, its energy field disrupting the sword on a molecular level, cut through the sword and the heretic behind it, cutting deep into its chest. Kicking the traitor off of if his axe, Lionus then turned to meet the challenge of the last mutant.

The mutant still stood where it had before when it made its challenge. Slowly pacing round Lionus, it took his measure, noting his shoulder wound. Trying to take advantage of this it pressed hard to Lionus' right, blow after blow of its hammer stumbling Lionus back step by step, struck with such speed and animalistic ferocity that Lionus could do nothing but block.

As the mutant's assault continued, Lionus' shield arm began to tire and he was forced to take desperate measures. Jumping back as the next blow descended, Lionus hefted and threw his axe at the mutant, catching it in the thigh and causing it to stumble. Enraged it roared at Lionus.

Taking advantage of the mutant's rage Lionus then levelled his storm bolter as it roared and fired a tight controlled burst into its chest, sending it flying off of its feet to land heavily on its back, bleeding profusely from several ragged chest wounds.

Making his way over to the mutant, Lionus retrieved his axe from its right leg, stepping on its ruined chest before staring the dying traitor in the eyes. "Your Emperor is dead fool…" spat the mutant in an alien voice, barely discernable "No one sits atop the Golden Throne slave giant!" Ignoring the mutant's blasphemy, Lionus brought his axe down in the centre of its skull, cleaving the head in two and silencing the wretch.

Taking a moment to recover, Lionus took a few deep breaths, still hiding behind the Chimera. Readying himself again, Lionus quickly glanced over the wreck again. After his fight with the mutants the las fire had died out and Lionus wanted to be sure the heretics weren't still there before he left his position.

Though Lionus only raised his head for the briefest of seconds, once behind cover again his photographic memory allowed him to analyse the information in safety. The heretics were still in position and had again trained their guns on him after he briefly popped out of cover.

Suddenly fire started to rain down on Lionus again and judging by how erratic it was the shooters had to be on the move; they were charging him. Moving further to the right side of the Chimera, Lionus crouched low, waiting in ambush.

As the storm troopers advanced they lobbed a volley of grenades, a mixture of frag and flash grenades to attempt to disorientate and pin the enemy, standard breaching procedure, before charging around both sides of the Chimera, bayonets fixed and hotshots aimed.

Lionus' helmet shut out the excess light, preventing him from being stunned, whilst the shrapnel scraped harmlessly off of his armour; clearly this foe had never fought an Astartes. As the first trooper charged around his flank Lionus brought his axe round in a low arc, hacking through the first heretics right leg and hitting another's ankle, maiming them both.

After the first strike Lionus burst at them, jumping up and bashing his shield at the next nearest traitor and smashing him back into the others and fracturing his ribcage. One made to stab him whilst firing his gun on full auto. One shot managed to strike his right bicep, the high energy shot piercing through his armour and cauterising the flesh and muscle beneath.

Wincing, Lionus managed to take the rest of the shots on his shield before bashing aside the bayonet strike and bringing his axe across the traitors throat in a short, controlled motion, before continuing the blow down and around in low sweep, side stepping another stab and hamstringing the attacker for his efforts. Four of the five troopers were down on the right flank but only one had ceased to breath, he would have to be quick.

Slashing the last standing trooper's chest deeply with his axe, Lionus then quickly sheathed his axe in its frog, a metal ring attached to his hip, then unclipped one of his krak grenades and dropped it amongst the fallen after priming it for three seconds. Then he sprinted around the other side of the Chimera, riddled now with las fire.

As Lionus sprinted round the corner the high explosive grenade detonated in a shower of earth and gore. The troopers that had stormed the left of the Chimera hadn't been able to line up a shot on Lionus as he had bashed his way through the other half of their squad and round the Chimera.

When Lionus came round the corner of the Chimera the troopers were ready and waiting for him, their hotshots firing on full auto as he came into their line of sight. The majority of the fire struck his shield, whining as the lasers fizzled against the storm shields gravitic field. A score of shots managed to hit home though, striking his arms and legs. Most only fizzled against his armour, the hundreds of years of modification and super dense alloys added staving off the worst of the damage, and pitted the plasteel plate. Enough shots made it through though to be made known.

One shot tore through Lionus' left thigh, another through his chest, perforating one of his lungs, and finally another through his left shoulder. Pain flared from each wound and caused Lionus to stumble a moment before regaining his balance, his charge beginning to falter.

His suits medicae systems kicked in, numbing the pain and clotting the wounds, releasing increased adrenaline into his system and spurring him on again, sprinting faster than before. Despite his wounds Lionus could still function not far below optimal capacity; well enough at least to take out these traitors.

As Lionus renewed his charge the troopers never ceased their fire, beginning to step back as they fired to try and keep as much space between them and the encroaching armoured giant. Their efforts were in vain and Lionus quickly closed the gap between them, hacking his axe through the first heretic's neck before sending the corpse flying backwards into the other traitors with a swat of his shield.

Jumping aside one of the heretics dodged the fallen trooper and brought his rifle to bear, trying to stab Lionus in the side whilst he was distracted. Engaged with another foe, Lionus didn't see the power bayonet speeding at his spine.

The energies surrounding the bayonet crackled violently as they struck Lionus' armour, at first grinding against the plasteel plate before managing to dig in and cut through to the adamantium and the flesh within.

A warning rune appeared on Lionus' HUD as he felt the blade sink deep. Nothing critical had been hit but there was a lot a blood and the blow caused Lionus to stumble forwards, impairing his strike; his blow went wide of his mark, allowing the target to duck under it and stab at him also. Fortunately the bayonet only scraped against his armour, the Emperor watching over him.

As the stab wound began to clot, Lionus brought his axe round in a mighty arc, spinning on the spot as he cleft through the two traitors facing him, turning to try and continue the strike against the heretic that had stabbed him in the back.

Before Lionus could land the blow though, the heretic's chest exploded outwards, a giant metal fist protruding from it. "We met heavy resistance en route brother, I am sorry we took so long" said Wodan as he contemptuously flung aside the traitor's corpse.

"Thank the Emperor you're here friend, they were starting to bog me down" replied Lionus, then switching his frequency, he contacted the rest of his Honour Guard, saying "Regroup on my position, reinforcements are here. I repeat, regroup!"

Swatting at one of the Ogryns with his massive power fist, sending it stumbling to the side from the force of the blow, Grimheld then started to pace backwards, dousing the Abhumans with his assault cannon and heavy flamer.

Seven Ogryn still stood, though Grimheld's attacks had dealt some serious wounds to the creatures they refused to be felled, coming on irrespective of the damage they'd taken. This had gone on for nearly a minute, both sides keeping pace with one another as Grimheld steadily lured them back.

The Ogryns had managed to land some blows on Grimheld here and there, most only dealing superficial damage but two had landed critical strikes, one having taking a great chunk out of his front armour and impairing his visual auspexes, and another having struck above his power fist, limiting its power supply and shutting down its power field.

"Grimheld, move position; the heavies are in range" voxed _Death's Behest_.

"At once" replied Grimheld in a distorted voice, his voice modulator impaired by the battle.

Distracting the Ogryns so that Grimheld could pull back, Dagmar's assault squad jumped in, lobbing the last of their grenades at the Abhumans in an effort to gain their attention. Their ploy worked, the Ogryns hating the flashes. Leading the Ogryns again Dagmar's squad quickly jumped away. Finally with an all clear, _Death's Behest_ opened fire.

Swapping to solid high penetration rounds as opposed to the standard explosive munitions, the destroyer cannons shredded through the Ogryns, blasting large holes in them. The lascannons fire was horrendous, each shot striking two or three at once and obliterating those it struck, blowing off limbs and ruining torsos. Within a matter of seconds the already bloody and wounded Ogryns had been slaughtered.

Contacting all local Red Guard forces, _Death's Behest_ voxed "The right flank is down, all able forces assigned to this flank are now moving to support position primus"

"Noted brothers, well done" congratulated Lionus in reply, then continuing "The left flank has nearly fallen, rendezvousing with friendly forces soon"

Freyr and his brothers had been hard pressed, the tactical squads man swarmed and nearly drowning. The hill they were defending was slick with blood and covered in heretical corpses. The shooting gallery had turned into a pitched battle when the dead had started to pile so high the survivors used them as cover, forming something akin to trench lines with the dead and creating a bitter fire fight as both sides swapped fire.

Thanks to their superior armour and positioning the Red Guard had the best of it, it still being difficult for the heretics to accurately return fire, but with the sheer weight of fire casualties had unfortunately been inevitable; Freyr himself had taken a series of nasty wounds to his left arm, rendering it temporarily useless, whilst three of his men had fallen, unlikely to rise again. Annar had lost another two brothers and was down to only half of their original strength

There were still another two or three hundred of the heretics out there, spread out along the sea of the dead and hiding amongst the corpses or in craters caused by the heavier fire of the devastators. They had reached a stalemate.

Hearing the news over the vox, Freyr eagerly awaited the reinforcements they needed to end the deadlock. After Ullor had assaulted the troops at the base of the hill, whilst Dagmar and his men and started to engage the tanks along the right flank, he and his brother's had been forced to retreat back and regroup with the tactical squads in order to avoid being overwhelmed.

As Freyr watched Dagmar's squad jump into the fray Ullor and his men weren't fire behind them. Followed closely behind them was Grimheld on the right, stamping his way across the battlefield, then came Lionus and his Honour Guard with Wodan and his terminators, their Redeemer attempting to flank round the back of the enemy and smoke them out, whilst the Razorback held back ready to give long range covering fire.

As his brothers went about their business it turned into a rout then a massacre and the tactical squads were forced to move up and advance in order to maintain their covering fire. The Red Guard's overwhelming firepower began to drive them back, assault squads descending on them from the skies like furious angels as Wodan's terminators advanced steadily, invincible.

As the front lines crumbled and the heretics retreated, Wodan's Redeemer reached the enemies rear lines. Cut off from their third wave and having little cover and no means to engage the monstrous tank, the traitors could do naught but run, the flamestorm cannons devouring them whole until finally the two retreating lines met and were ended in a spectacular cross fire.

Across an immense and bloody battlefield there were now a thousand heretics lying dead, another hundred tanks to mark their graves and two hundred elite infantry to spell out their doom.

In a triumphant voice, Lionus called out "Brothers, victory is ours! Rendezvous at the airbase, we have much work to do"


End file.
